My current "nose dragger" (tricycle gear) factory built plane has a castering nosewheel without any steering linkages, so the Only way to steer it is by dragging a brake, right brake: right turn, left brake: left turn.
On a long taxi straight away on a taxiway pitched to one side for drainage there is no choice other than to ride or pump one brake the whole way. Seems like testing the brakes is the way to go. Better to test them, maybe not to destruction, but throughout all normal type ops, including taxi runs, slow and fast. This kind of problem is what a test technician is looking for. Good it did not happen while taxiing in dry grass out in the country somewhere. I might have noted the dragging and stopped to check that on account I was dragging a brake on a pickup truck once, same kind of heating took place, pretty darn hot. I was thrown over the handle bars of a motorcycle that had a draggy front brake 30 years ago. Also I saw a wheel fire on the freeway in the last 5 years on a trailer. So anyway a brake that drags without command makes me take note and change my path. cheers! jg
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