aircraft brakes were never designed for stopping aircraft.

If the brakes were that good, that was a nice exception. The postwar
stuff I flew had lousy brakes. Like the Swift with the orginal
Goodyear brakes. The disk pucks were about as big around as a quarter.
I know they must have known those wouldn't stop the plane.
The Champ had weak brakes too. And just about any of the planes with
heel brakes were pretty weak. And the worst were the ones with
mechanical brakes. I hear that's pretty much what got the old Ford
Model A's off the road. They couldn't pass inspection with mechanical
the installed mechanical brakes. Is there anyone hear that drove
those?

On Fri, 1 Aug 2008 20:00:57 -0400, "Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe" The Sea
Hawk @See My Sig.com wrote:

"Sliker" wrote in message
.. .
...
Plus, way back when, old light aircraft had crap for brakes. Back when
Stinsons, Swifts, and other postwar aircraft were built, there were no
Cleveland brakes. With those, and clones of them, you can stop just
fine.

Does a 1946 Cessna 120 qualify as a "postwar aircraft"? Brakes were good
enough for stopping hard enough to keep the tail in the air until you
stopped.

On Fri, 01 Aug 2008 20:32:29 -0400, Sliker
wrote:


mechanical brakes. I hear that's pretty much what got the old Ford
Model A's off the road. They couldn't pass inspection with mechanical
the installed mechanical brakes. Is there anyone hear that drove
those?

My '34 Ford had mechanical brakes and if I'm not mistaken the '37 Ford
still had mechanical brakes, maybe even later.

Ed Sullivan

On Aug 1, 7:56*pm, Ed Sullivan wrote:
On Fri, 01 Aug 2008 20:32:29 -0400, Sliker
wrote:

mechanical brakes. I hear that's pretty much what got the old Ford
Model A's off the road. They couldn't pass inspection with mechanical
the installed mechanical brakes. Is there anyone hear that drove
those?

My '34 Ford had mechanical brakes and if I'm not mistaken the '37 Ford
still had mechanical brakes, maybe even later.

Ed Sullivan

37 for sure, don't know about later. What got them off the street was
not inspections but market force. I don't think there even _were_
vehicle inspections back in the late 30s.

Harry K

Ed Sullivan wrote:
On Fri, 01 Aug 2008 20:32:29 -0400, Sliker
wrote:


mechanical brakes. I hear that's pretty much what got the old Ford
Model A's off the road. They couldn't pass inspection with mechanical
the installed mechanical brakes. Is there anyone hear that drove
those?

My '34 Ford had mechanical brakes and if I'm not mistaken the '37 Ford
still had mechanical brakes, maybe even later.

Ed Sullivan

There are still Model A's on the road today. I have a neighbor and an
uncle with bone stock model A's that are licensed and tagged and still
driven regularily on weekends.

Charles

On Fri, 01 Aug 2008 19:56:57 -0700, Ed Sullivan
wrote:

On Fri, 01 Aug 2008 20:32:29 -0400, Sliker
wrote:


mechanical brakes. I hear that's pretty much what got the old Ford
Model A's off the road. They couldn't pass inspection with mechanical
the installed mechanical brakes. Is there anyone hear that drove
those?

My '34 Ford had mechanical brakes and if I'm not mistaken the '37 Ford
still had mechanical brakes, maybe even later.

Ed Sullivan
I believe 1939 was the last year for mechanicals on Ford (the last
holdout in the American market). 1940-1942 "juicers" were commonly
adapted to "A"s and other early Fords.
** Posted from http://www.teranews.com **

On Fri, 01 Aug 2008 20:32:29 -0400, Sliker
wrote:

If the brakes were that good, that was a nice exception. The postwar
stuff I flew had lousy brakes. Like the Swift with the orginal
Goodyear brakes. The disk pucks were about as big around as a quarter.
I know they must have known those wouldn't stop the plane.
The Champ had weak brakes too. And just about any of the planes with
heel brakes were pretty weak. And the worst were the ones with
mechanical brakes. I hear that's pretty much what got the old Ford
Model A's off the road. They couldn't pass inspection with mechanical
the installed mechanical brakes. Is there anyone hear that drove
those?
"juice brake" conversions were very common on the Model "A". Wasn't
stopping POWER that was critical, it was the BALLANCE. Buggers could
be all over the road before you got all 4 wheels drawing down evenly.
Had a 1928 Chevy National with mechanical brakes - they were pitiful -
outside bands on the rear deums for service brakes, expanding internal
shoes for the parking brake - and standard procedure was to pull the
hand beake and stop on the pedal at the same time if you REALLY needed
to stop.
Had a 1949VW Bug with mechanicals as well. Stopped fine after you
figured out which way it was going to head, and corrected for it
before putting BOTH feet into it.(mind you, it only did about 48MPH
wide open down hill with a tail wind)

On Fri, 1 Aug 2008 20:00:57 -0400, "Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe" The Sea
Hawk @See My Sig.com wrote:

"Sliker" wrote in message
. ..
...
Plus, way back when, old light aircraft had crap for brakes. Back when
Stinsons, Swifts, and other postwar aircraft were built, there were no
Cleveland brakes. With those, and clones of them, you can stop just
fine.

Does a 1946 Cessna 120 qualify as a "postwar aircraft"? Brakes were good
enough for stopping hard enough to keep the tail in the air until you
stopped.

** Posted from http://www.teranews.com **

On Aug 4, 7:51*pm, clare at snyder dot ontario dot canada wrote:
On Fri, 01 Aug 2008 20:32:29 -0400, Sliker
wrote:

If the brakes were that good, that was a nice exception. The postwar
stuff I flew had lousy brakes. Like the Swift with the orginal
Goodyear brakes. The disk pucks were about as big around as a quarter.
I know they must have known those wouldn't stop the plane.
The Champ had weak brakes too. And just about any of the planes with
heel brakes were pretty weak. And the worst were the ones with
mechanical brakes. I hear that's pretty much what got the old Ford
Model A's off the road. They couldn't pass inspection with mechanical
the installed mechanical brakes. Is there anyone hear that drove
those?

"juice brake" conversions were very common on the Model "A". Wasn't
stopping POWER that was critical, it was the BALLANCE. Buggers could
be all over the road before you got all 4 wheels drawing down evenly.
Had a 1928 Chevy National with mechanical brakes - they were pitiful -
outside bands on the rear deums for service brakes, expanding internal
shoes for the parking brake - and standard procedure was to pull the
hand beake and stop on the pedal at the same time if you REALLY needed
to stop.
Had a 1949VW Bug with mechanicals as well. Stopped fine after you
figured out which way it was going to head, and corrected for it
before putting BOTH feet into it.(mind you, it only did about 48MPH
wide open down hill with a tail wind)




snip

I recall my father constantly being under one adjusting the brakes to
get them to pull even. Then there was the day I helped my buddy
recover a Model B from a fence row. Was on top of a steep, crooked 7
mile down grade. We discovered that it wouldn't run so we towed it to
the top of the grade and coasted down. Also found that we only had
two working brakes. One on one front wheel by the foot pedal and one
on one rear by using the 'emergency brake'. Made it by him driving
and using the foot pedal me the emergency brake.

Harry K

Harry K

"Stealth Pilot" wrote in message
...

I am talking about light private aircraft here...

as I put it in the subject line aircraft brakes were never designed
for stopping aircraft. they were designed to hold aircraft.

I notice that the OP has been missing from this thread for the last couple of
days. Perhaps he/she finally did some reading in 14 CFR part 23 Sec. 23.735?

Vaughn

Vaughn Simon wrote:

"Stealth Pilot" wrote in message
...

I am talking about light private aircraft here...

as I put it in the subject line aircraft brakes were never designed
for stopping aircraft. they were designed to hold aircraft.


I notice that the OP has been missing from this thread for the last couple of
days. Perhaps he/she finally did some reading in 14 CFR part 23 Sec. 23.735?

Vaughn




Not likely.



--

Richard

(remove the X to email)

On Sun, 03 Aug 2008 13:47:51 GMT, "Vaughn Simon"
wrote:


"Stealth Pilot" wrote in message
.. .

I am talking about light private aircraft here...

as I put it in the subject line aircraft brakes were never designed
for stopping aircraft. they were designed to hold aircraft.

I notice that the OP has been missing from this thread for the last couple of
days. Perhaps he/she finally did some reading in 14 CFR part 23 Sec. 23.735?

Vaughn


nup. been busy with a life. comments stand.
Stealth Pilot