bonehead

rick bell · #1 12-08-02, 07:52 PM

decided yesterday to practice max short field landing on my way home from yuma az. to clear customs at mmsf (landed around 400') but the breaks were smoking (first dum sthing). cleared customs and flew to my dirt strip, fot out and tied the a/c down i notice the left main was going flat. must have locked the left break when landing in mmsf and remmoved about a 1/2 inch of rubber off a new tire (it was leaking air from where the what cords were lefr). i believe i will from now on only use max brakes on dirt fields so if i lock and skid i'll have a little rubber left. rick

kevin · #2 12-08-02, 08:27 PM

Oh man, I feel your pain...

I had a similar experience with not nearly as good an excuse. I made a normal landing at my home airport, 6000' runway. I touched down and applied braking normally, and just as I did, a gust of wind picked up one wing a bit. I heard the dreaded "screech". The tire was BRAND NEW, like 10 hours on it. Flat spotted it nearly to the cord. Had to buy another one. And the low profile tires the go on the P337 are NOT cheap, and can't be recapped. (Actually they CAN, but it doesn't save much and they don't have a stock to exchange from, so you gotta be down for 2 weeks to do a recap.) Sigh...

Sorry bud. Wet grass is good for avoiding this problem as well, as long as you don't actually need to stop any time soon...

Kevin

Bob Cook · #3 12-08-02, 10:13 PM

Try the poor man's anti skid breaking system.

**Modulate the breaks while stopping**

This helps to avoid the problem.

Just a suggestion.

bob

WebMaster · #4 12-09-02, 09:51 AM

At least you didn't land with the brakes on!! I've read about more than one pilot who did so

Ernie Martin · #5 12-09-02, 01:55 PM

Maybe the moral of Rick Bell's story is "if it might stress the aircraft unnecessarily, is there another way of doing it?" I know, I know, we need occassionally to push the envelope a bit to make sure our skills remain sharp, but maybe there's a different way of doing it. In Rick's case, perhaps he could have set some aggressive PILOT goals, such as "touch down on the numbers at under 85 mph", knowing that such skill would yield a very short landing.

The matter was brought to light vividly in an incident exactly a week ago.

My family had gone to the Bahamas on the Friday after Thanksgiving with a friend's family in his twin AeroCommander. On Monday at 3 PM we boarded for the return trip to Miami, but a weak battery prevented the engines from starting. We got two car batteries and his external power cable and were succesful in starting with just barely enough time to make the 5 PM closing of Customs at TMB.

All seemed well in flight and we entered the special Customs identification squawk we got over the radio to penetrate the US ADIZ. En route, however, my friend decides to test the condition of the battery (which he doesn't need for landing because the gear is entirely hydraulic) by turning on an unneeded piece of equipment. Big mistake! We lost all electrical power, including GPS, radios, etc. We then do a reset and bring needed eqpt up without problems.

Within sight of the US, however, the TMB tower CALLS US wondering if we're on their frequency. When we say yes, they tell us we entered the ADIZ without the squawk, because our transponder is off. Sure enough, we look and it's turned to ALT but we see no interrogating flashes. So we recycle the transponder and get it back on.

You know how the story ends. On arrival at TMB, my friend was ordered to call the FAA and he's now in the midst of an investigation. All because he wanted to see the condition of the batteries.

Like light bulbs at home, which don't fail after they're on for a while, on airplanes I like to leave well enough alone.

Ernie

Don Hickman · #6 12-10-02, 10:32 PM

Well, I probably shouldn't say anything but you all might as well know that Kevin isn't the only one who can ruin a new tire. Did the exact same thing about 2 weeks ago. Messed up a gusty crosswind landing and shaved a brand new tire all the way to the cord in one spot. Lots of tread remaining on the rest of the tire. Goes thump, thump, thump now when taxiing. New tire tomorrow. Can anyone find these things for under $200??

WebMaster · #7 12-11-02, 09:54 AM

Don't know about the P models, but aviator tires for my normally aspirated 69 337d run about $65. That includes the tube. Had one that was marginal, and replaced it at annual last month.

Don Hickman · #8 12-11-02, 11:19 AM

$65!!! Wow!

Guess I'll have a chat with my mechanic.

What brand, size, etc. tire do you have?

Guy Paris · #9 12-11-02, 12:20 PM

18-5.5. 8 ply, Just bought (2) Goodyear FLT SPEC.11, from Desser Tire, (In Trade A Plane) 120.00 each. One of these days I am going to try the Airhawk, at 69.95 each...Guy, old72driver....