I even heard a story about one pilot at my homefield who managed to take off with the hand brake applied. The plane was over-powered for its weight, and the brakes less than perfectly effective, still he admitted to sighing with relief at discovering the little detail before landing… Perhaps a point to add to the landing check-list – on downwind? 
The parking brake appears in my checklist several times and I was always taught to check the brakes are off in my before landing checklist too. I’m inexperienced (only 80 hours) but it seems strange to me that it wouldn’t appear anywhere in the checklist? Thanks for sharing your experience!
Peter wrote:
Wasn’t this (brakes setting things on fire) a big issue with the SR22?
That’s what http://philip.greenspun.com/flying/cirrus-sr20 says. Overheating (aggressive braking, e.g. an aborted take-off) can lead to a fire, even later on, and that’s why Cirrus added “Telatemp patches” which I guess are things that permanently change colour once they are heated once.
Philip Greenspun knows very little about Cirrus Aircraft but likes to write about it. I know that article for years now and I pointed some mistakes out to him, but he doesn’t care much if what he writes is correct. Not a good source.
The heat indicator on the brake calipers only show if the brake system was ever overheated.
PS: By the way, guys, “handbrake” is an automotive term to me, in airplanes it’s always “parking brake”.:-)
NinerEchoPapa wrote:
but it seems strange to me that it wouldn’t appear anywhere in the checklist?
There are multiple entries for engaging the brakes, where I usually do it myself and don’t use the handbrake. However, there are no entries for disengaging the brakes or the handbrake.
Jacko wrote:
The ones I use most often are the bowline and round turn & two half hitches.
Those and the clove hitch for sure.
…but it seems strange to me that it wouldn’t appear anywhere in the checklist?…
In “my” plane it is on the shutdown-and-parking-checklist: “Parking Brake – Set”. So I do as the checklist tells me, place our red A4 sized sign “Parking Brake ON – do not tow – call thisandthatphonenumber instead” in the middle of the window and go to the hotel. Next morning, the plane is 50m away from where it was yesterday with thick black stripes on the tarmac (there are about 4 tons on every wheel) between the old and the new position. Luckily the handling guy realized after 50m that he needed a lot of power than usual with his tug before completely flattening the tyres.
4 tons on every wheel? What are you flying?
Dimme wrote:
4 tons on every wheel? What are you flying?
The “best sports plane in the world” as someone once called it (referring to the thrust to weight ratio and the runway requirements), a Citation V Encore.
BTW: I once lined that plane up with the parking brake engaged. After we had to hold at the holding for longer than usual, I had set the parking brake, something I don’t usually do. I wondered why I needed so much power to get the plane moving (normally one just gets the feet off the pedals and idle thrust will do the job) and quickly realised my mistake. I think it was only possible to get moving because it was raining, on a dry taxiway the amount of power required would be close to or beyond normal takeoff thrust.
what_next wrote:
BTW: I once lined that plane up with the parking brake engaged. After we had to hold at the holding for longer than usual, I had set the parking brake, something I don’t usually do. I wondered why I needed so much power to get the plane moving (normally one just gets the feet off the pedals and idle thrust will do the job) and quickly realised my mistake. I think it was only possible to get moving because it was raining, on a dry taxiway the amount of power required would be close to or beyond normal takeoff thrust.
That is my horror scenario. I never use the parking brake on the runway but do use it at the hold.
