ERA11LA124 · Cirrus Design Corp SR22
Cirrus Design Corp SR22 · Accident: fire/smoke (non-impact) while taxiing
From Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT) to McGhee Tyson Airport (TYS)
Narrative check · The NTSB narrative appears to contradict this record's location and departure or destination. Values are shown as recorded, not corrected; compare with the narrative.
Event
- NTSB case
- ERA11LA124
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
- Completed
- API-reported fatalities
- 0 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- General aviation
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Visual Meteorological Cond
Cirrus Design Corp SR22
- Aircraft type
- Cirrus SR22
- Category
- Airplane
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- N690KY
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route Narrative disagrees
- From Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT), Pittsburg, PATo McGhee Tyson Airport (TYS), Knoxville, TN
- Aircraft age
- Not recorded
- Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
- Part 91: General Aviation
- Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
- Taxi · to runway
- Defining eventThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
- Fire/smoke (non-impact)
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Substantial
Cause areas
- Aircraft › Aircraft oper/perf/capability
- Personnel issues › Task performance
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
According to the pilot, he was given instructions to taxi from the fixed base operator to the runway. After reaching the runway, he initiated the takeoff checklist. The pilot increased the engine rpm per the checklist and the airplane moved forward slightly. According to the pilot, as pressure was applied to the brakes, the right brake "popped" and the right pedal “lost all pressure.” The airplane started a 180 degree turn to the left and the engine was shutdown. Smoke was coming from under the right wing and the tower was alerted. As the pilot and passenger exited the airplane, they observed flames around the base of the wheel pant and the pilot attempted to extinguish the fire unsuccessfully. Data retrieved from the multi-function display revealed that while taxiing, the engine power reached 1,100 to 1,900 rpm and the ground speed was 30 mph. Review of the airplane’s pilot operating handbook revealed that the maximum recommended continuous engine power for taxiing is 1,000 rpm. If the engine power is exceeded and proper braking procedures are not observed during taxi, wheel brake damage or fire could occur. Portions of the right brake assembly were either heavily fire damaged or destroyed. Examination of the left brake assembly revealed no evidence of a mechanical malfunction.
Probable cause
The pilot’s excessive engine rpm and speed during taxi and subsequent braking, which resulted in a wheel brake fire.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ERA11LA124
- Event ID
- 20110125X43852
- Case number
- ERA11LA124
- Dataset
- full-current
- Source SHA-256
- 5cf380f0061817c0331a6b2d8cc7e0ee3a79bea469a1001dc5c10e56f35f5ab3
Source notes (4)
- Unreviewed is an editorial label, not an investigation status. API-sourced is not report-checked or human-reviewed. Explicit event totals are used without summing aircraft injury tables; onboard allocation is withheld. Unknown values remain unknown. The operation category is mapped from the NTSB-reported FAR part and has not been reviewed.
- Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date, which is the same as the UTC date the NTSB stores.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 7e33eda2d04ea74e597ee0d3276b102d5bbd59321bc19c637302b475ed8d4e38; retrieved 2026-09-15T15:42:36.981Z.