Right Rudder?

It's been nearly three weeks since my checkride, and I haven't flown once. Today, the weather was good enough to give it a shot.

I planned to fly a short cross-country to stay current and start building up those hours in anticipation of a future instrument rating. The weather was a bit iffy, with some winds and scattered clouds, but I studied all the information and obtained a briefing, and I felt good to go. Even so, I had an alternate plan in mind should the clouds come in faster than forecast. Turns out, I needed to completely deviate from my plan when the plane decided to act up....on the ground.

I went through my startup and got all my things organized, even putting in my short hop to the GPS flight plan. I taxied down to the end of the runway and pulled off to do my runup. As I turned the plane around, I felt and heard a POP and the right brake pedal went "to the floor".

As an aside, the Diamond DA-20 has no steerable nosewheel. It is freely castering and simply reacts to the turning caused by applying one or the other of the main wheel brakes. This means that with no brake on the right side, I could not technically turn right. Fortunately, this plane also has a sizable rudder and is light enough that even a normal taxi speed provides enough rudder authority to maintain direction.

I immediately knew that my "flight" was over, and as I fiddled with the pedals to confirm that just one side was affected, I was on the radio requesting a taxi back and explaining my situation so as not to be put in any tight spots. The controller was very understanding and asked if I needed him to call over to the flight school to have someone come out to help. I said, "Negative" and he cleared me to taxi back.

There was another plane waiting to taxi to takeoff, and he was informed that I was moving slow, which caused no problems. As I taxied, I carefully experimented to see just how marginal my directional control was. It didn't seem too bad, but I knew I would have to slow down as I got up to the ramp area and would exit the taxiway toward lots of (expensive) parked aircraft. The waiting plane was cleared to taxi after I would clear the taxiway, and I was cleared (again) to continue on my way. I "rogered" and started to turn off the taxiway.

As I slowed down, it didn't take long for my lack of right-turning ability to catch up with me. At still a fairly normal taxi speed for the area, I had to decide what was going to happen next. The throttle already at idle, it was either speed up a bit and get the rudder into the mix again, or pull the mixture, cut the engine, and use just left brake to come to a stop. It quickly became apparent that more speed was definitely not a good thing at this point. I also noticed out of the corner of my eye that a couple of folks from the flight school were walking out toward me, apparently aware of my predicament.

The slow speed resulted in a nearly 90-degree turn to the left as the engine and wheels stopped turning at about the same time. I paused and told the ground controller that "We'll have to push it off." I was stopped just inside the dividing line between the ramp (a "non-movement" area) and the taxiway (a "movement" area). Movement areas require controller clearance to enter or operate within (whether you are a plane, vehicle, or pedestrian). Since I still technically had a clearance to "taxi" back to the hangar, it felt reasonable that we would simply do so. I finished completely shutting down the systems, including the radio, and hopped out as one of the school staff, a student from the school, and a lineman from next-door got to the plane.

We began pulling/pushing the plane up the ramp, and as we did so, we were intercepted by one of the airport authorities who was very upset that we had created a "pedestrian incursion" in a movement area without controller clearance. As it turned out, according to the CFI that came out, the controller had called the school anyway, unbeknownst to me, and despite my original answer, and they had come out at his request. Since I was still a few hundred feet from the hangar, it felt good to see some help coming over.

Anyway, I have a feeling this little incident might not be over, but I don't see much that I could have done differently, other than just sit there and wait for help. I felt that the controller knew what was going on and that once I shut the plane down, I would not have a radio, but there might be some special procedure for a case like this that I'm unaware of. If so, I will bet that I will find out all about it in the near future, in very great detail.