Tips needed - iced up brakes

[piperboy84]

Flying of the grass with a little bit of snow and frost in -2 temp upon landing the right wheel partially seized up due to the brake caliper freezing on to the disc, apart from the de-icer from the auto parts store anyone know of any good product to stop the brakes freezing up

[9 lives]

Very careful airmanship! When you taxi in loose snow, do not use the brakes at all, other that to instantly lock one, and slide the tire for a pivot turn, and then, only if there is no alternative. Try not to use them at all. If you don't use them at all, they won't heat up, and snow won't melt and refreeze on them. If there is any snow accumulated around the brake caliper, do not takeoff, clean it all off (with gas line antifreeze, if you like). When you takeoff, do not touch the brakes at all once airborne. watch the wheels spin down slowly. If a wheel stops turning quickly, consider landing back right away, before it freezes solid.

If you believe that you are airborne with a frozen wheel, and fear landing back with it locked, try to find a gravel runway, if not, paved, but a surface with more friction than grass, ice or snow. Fly along just off the surface at 1.3Vs or so, and bounce just that one wheel only on for a moment. If you feel lurch, you know that you'll have to find a very icy runway to slide onto with a locked wheel. If you hear a loud bang, you probably broke the frozen brake loose, and you're all set. Your nose or tailwheel will not be frozen, only a main, so bouncing it down and back up should not be a problem.

[RatherBeFlying]

Learned to fly in C-150s over a few Canadian winters on a grass runway that was effectively hard packed snow in the winter after the grader removed the majority off the runway.

Taxiing away from the hangar required considerable power. If there's that much snow, you should not need brakes. The skiplanes manage without ;)

We almost never used the brakes, except certain presolo landings with more airspeed than necessary:uhoh:

The brakes did not freeze up on us.

[Small Rodent Driver]

Wondering if the problem is the grade of brake fluid used in your braking system?

[Lazerdog]

Part of you winter pre-flight should be to give the plane a push to make sure it rolls and to clean out any snow or ice packed in the hubs. Don't know of anything you could use in the puck/disk area but you should not need too.

Interesting side note... My first solo in a 150 resulted in a shaking instrument panel after I rotated. Scared the wee out of me but with the way it slowed down, I figured out it was ice in the hubs and carried on with my three touch and go's. When finally on the ground and getting my shirt cut up, my instructor admitted he had been tapping the brakes after lift off prior to my solo as he had kept forgetting to clean out the hubs.

[A and C]

The brake fluid is not likely to be the problem MIL-5606 has a very low freezing point, and is quite happy to work after sitting in the flap gearboxes of airliners after hours in the cruise at temperatures of -50c or lower.

The likely culprits are water that has been absorbed into the brake fluid freezing at the lowest part of the system in the caliper, incorect grease on the sliding pins of the caliper this should be a silicon grease ( not copper grease as is commonly seen) or snow that has melted during the take off run re-freezing in flight.

The first to likely culprits are within your power to fix, the re-freezing issue is a lot more difficult to solve.

[9 lives]

Brake and wheel maintenance are unlikely factors in freezing brakes. If the brakes don't work, that's a different issue. Snow packed into the rims could have a very minor effect upon wheel balance, but not brake freezing.

During your walk around, confirm that there is zero snow around the brake calipers, pads and discs. The caliper should have some freedom to rattle when you shake it. If it will not rattle, it could be binding, and that will warm the discs with friction, whether you apply the brakes or not - not good.

The entire problem of freezing brakes is managed by assuring that warm, snow packed discs and pads do not freeze together after takeoff. So if you cannot prevent accumulation of snow on the brakes (which sometimes is impossible) then you'll have to prevent them getting warm enough to melt that snow.

And all this is assuming that there are no wheel fairings on the plane. Do not operate them in snow or slush at all!

I have operated my 150 in as much as 6" of loose powder snow. I don't recommend it, but it can be done without freezing brakes. As said, with any depth of snow, slowing during taxiing is not really a concern!