Roger G White Glasair near Broomfield, CO — 2018-05-16

Final reportCEN18LA180

Date: 2018-05-16
Location: Broomfield, CO, USA
Airport: BJC
Aircraft: Roger G White Glasair
Registration: N4EJ
Category: Airplane
Highest injury: Minor
Fatalities: 0
Phase of flight: Landing

Probable cause

The failure of the right brake line, which resulted in a loss of directional control and runway excursion.

NTSB narrative

The airline transport pilot reported that, during the landing roll, the experimental, amateur-built airplane started drifting to the left and he applied right rudder to correct. He subsequently attempted to apply right brake pressure to further correct for the drift as the airplane was traveling about 50 knots. At that time, the right brake pedal "went to the floor," and there was "zero" right brake available. The airplane departed the left side of the runway, crossed the grass, and came to rest on the parallel taxiway. A postrecovery examination revealed that the plastic right brake line was broken near the upper end of the landing gear strut. The airplane was equipped with a free-castering nosewheel and did not have any nosewheel steering capability. Directional control during ground operations was maintained with differential braking. As a result, maintaining directional control after the brake failure was not possible.