Pilot and passengers enter the DA40 via the leading edge of the wing, an unusual feature among low-wing aircraft . The aircraft's nosewheel is free-castoring and directional control while taxiing is by mainwheel differential braking.
32.
They steer with the nose gear and the rudder, and some planes apparently have separate brakes for the two sets of wheels under the wings, allowing steering by differential braking, like a tank .-- talk ) 01 : 29, 7 February 2009 ( UTC)
33.
:: : : : Don't forget there's the weathervane effect of the fuselage, the rudder, most aircraft have differential braking ( i . e . separate left and right brake pedals ), and larger aircraft usually have tiller steering via the nose wheel as well.
34.
In practise, the monowheel Europa proved tricky in inexperienced hands and could be prone to prop-strikes and groundlooping ( partly due to the lack of differential braking ) so the company developed a tricycle undercarriage which has become the more popular version, particularly as any performance disadvantage has been slight.
35.
Another form of control, which is less common now than it once was, is to steer using " differential braking ", in which the tailwheel is a simple, freely castering mechanism, and the aircraft is steered by applying brakes to one of the main wheels in order to turn in that direction.
