Click Here to Return to

I am curious whether anyone else has had any experience with this, or what governs such incidents (regulation-wise).

Long story short: At a controlled field, I had a brake failure as I turned in to do my runup, and called ground to get clearance to taxi back to the ramp. I advised that I had a directional control problem, since the DA-20 has no steerable nosewheel, and I wanted him to know that I could potentially not make it all the way back.

I made it along the taxiway to where I had to turn off, and I saw that a CFI from my flight school, one of the other students, and a lineman from the next-door FBO were walking toward me. As I started to turn in, the combination of a slower speed and a different relative wind took away my right turning ability, and I cut the engine just at the line marking the movement/non-movement areas. I called ground (who had been on frequency during my taxi and monitored my progress) and advised that we would be pushing it the rest of the way (a few hundred feet to the hangar).

I exited the plane as the others got to me, and we all pushed the plane up the ramp. Midway, a representative of the airport came out and was visibly upset about our "pedestrian deviation" into a movement area. As it happens, the tower had called the flight school anyway and advised them that I might need some help. He said he'd check on that and get back to us.

So, with that, the following questions:
Is there an ideal way to handle a situation like this?
What if assistance was not forthcoming, or at least not obvious?
Should I have just stayed in the plane?
Has anyone else ever dealt with something similar?
Is there a particular FAR or other regulatory document that covers such situations?
Did I count as a "pedestrian" once I exited the plane?

I have a somewhat more narrative version on my blog:
http://eightgaits.blogspot.com/2008/03/ ... udder.html

Thanks. Love the show.

I think telling ground control that you were going to shutdown and then tow-bar the plane to parking would have been more than enough. It wasn't clear from you story if you did that, but that's what I would have done. If ground control had an issue with that they would then tell you, but I doubt it.

Ron