Ineffective brakes is one thing. Brakes where bolts shear off during normal
use is a completely different category.

Mike Schumann

"Bruce" wrote in message
...
Anyone who relies on the ineffectual brake fitted to most older gliders is
an optimist of note.

On the 4.00 X 4 hub common to these aircraft you have a couple of square
centimetres of friction material, with non energising shoes trying to stop
around 300 - 350kg of glider moving at anything up to 100km/h. Most are
good for one retardation only, at best, then they fade severely.

In my experience, with a lot of fettling work one can achieve a brake that
is reliably weak - which is a whole lot better than the alternative. But
experience indicates that one should still discount it ever working
effectively in an emergency.

You would be distressed to see how much damage you can cause at walking
speed with a 15m single seater. Just think what a 26m+ motorised uber bug
smasher could do with all it's inertia. (although they tend to have
halfway decent disk brakes these days)

In any case the man has it right - Don't point your glider at anything you
intend to keep, especially on a downhill. There is no need to provoke
Murphy.

Mike Schumann wrote:
"never point the plane at anything valuable whilst expecting this brake
to stop it..."??????????
snip



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