A300
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Distraction; Troubleshooting
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe; Deviation - Speed All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural FAR; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Aircraft Equipment Problem Dissipated; Flight Crew Overcame Equipment Problem; General Maintenance Action
Human Factors; Weather
Departed with a very light load and T/O weight of 220;000lbs; which necessitated Min Flt Wt Fuel. Temperature was 33C. It is uphill out of the company ramp; so even at very light weight; you must start 2 engines to taxi. We had an extra long taxi; 24 minutes to the furthest runway. The brakes were getting hot with all the taxing and slowing to turn; as well as lots of downhill.  Company procedure is to NOT use the brake fans until you get an ECAM alert which is at 300c on any tire's brake. As we took the runway and were cleared for takeoff; the warning came on with one brake at 300c. We elected to continue the takeoff; and leave the gear down. The alert went out; and we raised the gear. But after getting to cruse we saw that the brakes were not cooling down; even at altitude. We discussed the dangers of having a brake at 285c; and slowed and lowered the gear; for cooling. We slowed as much as we could to retract the gear; and at 220kts; were under the speed of 240kts; but at Mach .65; we exceeded the Mach limit of .53.We alerted maintenance; and made a logbook entry with full details. The aircraft was checked and remained in service for continued schedule flights. We flew another aircraft under the same conditions and airport today; with an even longer taxi time of 30 minutes. Since the brake fans can only be used with the gear down; my company should allow it to be standard for pilots to choose to use the brake fans BEFORE the ECAM alert; as it can be too late to make a difference in circumstances like this. And with our situation; canceling take off clearance and putting the fans on; and staying on the ground would have been the best course of action; to eliminate the situation we got into; with exceeding a structural limitation of the aircraft.
An A300 crew received ECAM alert for one hot brake just after being cleared for takeoff. They elected to takeoff and cool brakes in the air; but at cruise the brakes were still near the limit. They slowed below Vlo and lowered the gear at altitude; but exceeded the Mach airspeed limitation during retraction.