NYC02LA091

Factual narrative

On May 1, 2002, at 0855 eastern daylight time, a Cessna 182A, N5198D, was substantially damaged while taxiing after landing at Smith Mountain Lake Airport (W91), Moneta, Virginia. The certificated student pilot was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time, and no flight plan was filed for the solo instructional flight from a private airstrip in Rocky Mount, Virginia, that was conducted under 14 CFR Part 91. According to the student pilot, he had just landed on runway 23. He made a left turn onto the "teardrop" taxiway, to back taxi down runway 05, when the right brake failed. The airplane then departed the taxiway, went into a ditch, and nosed over. An examination of the airplane after the accident by a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspector revealed that the right brake cylinder was out of fluid, and other than a small amount of fluid up on the cylinder shaft, there were no holes or leaks noted. According to the airplane's maintenance logbook, new wheels and brakes were installed on October 10, 1999. There was also a "check brakes" notation, dated December 22, 2001, as part of the logbook entry for the airplane's latest annual inspection. The student pilot had just landed, and made a left turn onto the "teardrop" taxiway. The right brake failed, and the airplane departed the taxiway, went into a ditch, and nosed over. Post-accident examination revealed that the right brake cylinder was out of fluid, and other than a small amount of fluid up on the cylinder shaft, there were no holes or leaks noted. The brake system had been last checked about 4 1/2 months earlier, during the airplane's latest annual inspection. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12