"GS" wrote in message
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[...]
Speaking of which, just read on the NTSB website that there
was yet another Cirrus that burned up from the brakes during
an extended taxi.

By a pilot misusing the brakes.

The Cirrus isn't the only airplane out there with a free-castering
nosewheel. My airplane is one, and there are a number of other makes and
models with a similar design.

When I first learned to taxi without nosewheel steering, I did get the
brakes really hot. Smokin' hot. Literally. Obviously, not good for the
brakes. Thankfully, I learned the proper taxi technique without having to
go through that mistake twice.

But when I got the brakes that hot, it wasn't an issue of an "extended
taxi". It's that the brakes really don't need to be used that much, no
matter how far you're taxiing. Slight, infrequent adjustments are all that
are necessary. Someone using the brakes so much that they heat up enough to
cause damage to the airplane is taxiing VERY clumsily.

I suppose the issue might be of some interest to people who argue that the
Cirrus is being sold to lower-experience pilots, resulting in a
higher-than-normal rate of problems. The brakes would be just one more
example of that; same design in other airplanes doesn't cause nearly the
same number of issues (just because an airplane isn't make of fiberglass,
that doesn't mean it can handle having the brakes overheat regularly). It's
not clear why, otherwise, Cirrus would need this Service Bulletin that
Montblack mentioned, when none of the other types have needed one.

Pete