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Give your brakes a break!

1) Plan Braking For Your Desired Taxiway Exit

This may sound self-explanatory, but never brake too much or too little for your runway exit. If your turnoff isn't for a few thousand feet, there's no reason to apply maximum braking and force airplanes to go-around as you slowly taxi down the runway.

The opposite holds true for a short field or immediate turnoff. Apply smooth, constant brake pressure and never exit the runway at high speed.

2) Don't Keep Your Toes On The Brakes Before Touchdown

Any brake pressure prior to touchdown puts you at risk for blowing a tire. With no free movement your wheels will skid, and at a minimum, you'll be replacing tires when you get back to the hangar.

3) Locked Tires + Wet Runway = Reverted Rubber Hydroplaning

Reverted rubber hydroplaning happens when your tires lock up, the rubber begins to melt, and trapped water under the tire turns into steam. When it happens, you're riding on steam, and melting your tires in the process.

Use light brake pressure, use aerodynamic braking to keep maximum weight on your landing gear, and never lock up your brakes on landing to prevent this.

4) Short Field Landing? Use Full Aerodynamic Braking

Once you touchdown, you want to use maximum aerodynamic braking. After you touch down, slowly start pulling back on the yoke, being careful not to lift back off. As you increase your aerodynamic braking, you keep more weight on your main gear. That, in turn, makes your brakes more effective, because you can apply more brake pressure before your wheels lock up.

Be gentle as you apply the brakes, then start increasing braking pressure to slow down. It's easy to lock up your wheels when your ground speed is still high, and you're wings are producing a lot of lift. Keep pressure on the brakes until you know you're slow enough to make your taxi turnoff, then gently start to let up on the brakes. Smooth application of your brakes is the key to a good landing rollout.

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