N8RV
Well Known Member
Confession time. Ignorance bit me in the butt (pretty typical), but nothing was bruised but my ego.
When the RV-1 was on the Barnstorming Tour of the Midwest, I landed at Toledo, OH, to meet Bob Mills and The One. Upon landing and rollout, I discovered that my tailwheel didn't lock. I had to use differential braking while taxiing to the ramp.
As I contemplated borrowing someone's hangar and tools to service the tailwheel, I jostled it a bit and the wheel locked OK. We took off, landed back home without incident and I reminded myself to service the tailwheel ASAP.
I had no issues for the next 10 hours or so. Tailwheel was locking perfectly, so I figured I'd just wait until condition inspection time and do it then. That is the moment when a little voice should start saying, "Stupid ... stupid ... stupid ..."
Last week, I took Smokey up for a local flight just for fun. Came back to land and, as the tailwheel came down, started an immediate departure of the runway to the right. I immediately knew that the tailwheel wasn't locking, so I pushed on the left brake to straighten out, but to no avail. I was no longer a pilot but a passenger.
I missed the runway lights, careened into the grass and came to a stop. The tailwheel locking pin was stuck again, but of more concern was that I had no brakes.
As I taxied to the hangar, I realized that I had brakes, but not much. Far more pedal resistance on the right than on the left.
I pulled the tailwheel and disassembled, cleaned, deburred and regreased it. Works like a charm now. However, checking the brakes was another story.
When I checked the brake pads last year, I still had significant pad thickness left, so decided that I'd change them this year. I pulled the left wheel pant and found that I still had decent brake pads. Hmmm... so, I pulled the baggage compartment floor to see how the brake fluid levels were (I have the kind with the master cylinders and reservoirs mounted to the brake pedals). I pulled the plugs and found NO brake fluid!
I was quite surprised, as I hadn't noticed any brake fluid puddles on the hangar floor, none in the cockpit and no leaks when I did condition inspections the last two years. I just assumed that, being in a "closed system" like that, there's no place for the fluid to go and that the level really didn't need to be checked. Wrong.
I still can't explain where three years' worth of brake fluid went, but I topped off the right one in the reservoir because I still had firm pressure, and drained the left system and refilled it from the bottom. I now have solid brakes again.
So, if you're assuming that your brake fluid reservoir is full because it was when you filled it and you haven't seen any leaks anywhere, you might want to check the fluid level to be sure. It's a good item to have on your annual condition inspection list.
When the RV-1 was on the Barnstorming Tour of the Midwest, I landed at Toledo, OH, to meet Bob Mills and The One. Upon landing and rollout, I discovered that my tailwheel didn't lock. I had to use differential braking while taxiing to the ramp.
As I contemplated borrowing someone's hangar and tools to service the tailwheel, I jostled it a bit and the wheel locked OK. We took off, landed back home without incident and I reminded myself to service the tailwheel ASAP.
I had no issues for the next 10 hours or so. Tailwheel was locking perfectly, so I figured I'd just wait until condition inspection time and do it then. That is the moment when a little voice should start saying, "Stupid ... stupid ... stupid ..."
Last week, I took Smokey up for a local flight just for fun. Came back to land and, as the tailwheel came down, started an immediate departure of the runway to the right. I immediately knew that the tailwheel wasn't locking, so I pushed on the left brake to straighten out, but to no avail. I was no longer a pilot but a passenger.
I missed the runway lights, careened into the grass and came to a stop. The tailwheel locking pin was stuck again, but of more concern was that I had no brakes.
As I taxied to the hangar, I realized that I had brakes, but not much. Far more pedal resistance on the right than on the left.
I pulled the tailwheel and disassembled, cleaned, deburred and regreased it. Works like a charm now. However, checking the brakes was another story.
When I checked the brake pads last year, I still had significant pad thickness left, so decided that I'd change them this year. I pulled the left wheel pant and found that I still had decent brake pads. Hmmm... so, I pulled the baggage compartment floor to see how the brake fluid levels were (I have the kind with the master cylinders and reservoirs mounted to the brake pedals). I pulled the plugs and found NO brake fluid!
I was quite surprised, as I hadn't noticed any brake fluid puddles on the hangar floor, none in the cockpit and no leaks when I did condition inspections the last two years. I just assumed that, being in a "closed system" like that, there's no place for the fluid to go and that the level really didn't need to be checked. Wrong.
I still can't explain where three years' worth of brake fluid went, but I topped off the right one in the reservoir because I still had firm pressure, and drained the left system and refilled it from the bottom. I now have solid brakes again.
So, if you're assuming that your brake fluid reservoir is full because it was when you filled it and you haven't seen any leaks anywhere, you might want to check the fluid level to be sure. It's a good item to have on your annual condition inspection list.