Could anybody explain what spoilers are for. Are they used at T/o and/or landing. Are they the same as the speedbarke???tnx for yr helpEric

Spoilers are surfaces on top of the wings, which extend upward to destroy lift and create drag and turbulence. They are fully deployed upon touchdown to prevent the aircraft from bouncing back up into the air. On some better panels in FS the spoilers can be armed to do that automatically on touchdown by pressing Shift+/. They can be manually operated by pressing /. In midair, spoilers can be partially extended to help reduce speed and accelerate descent. Again, better panels will show a position for the spoiler lever marked "FLT EXT". This would be the proper position for an inflight spoiler extension during descent. You can usually drag the spoiler lever there with the mouse. On some spoilers are used to aid the ailerons during roll at lower speeds/higher roll rates. In such cases they are referred to as spoilerons. See for example the animation on the Project Airbus A320 or most of the POSKY planes. Though often referred to as speedbrakes, spoilers and speedbrakes are different, though spoilers also function as speedbrakes. Spoilers are exclusively found on top of the wing. Speedbrakes can have different configurations. The BAe 146/Avro RJ for example has spoilers on the wings and separate speedbrakes on the tailcone. Many military aircraft have large speedbrakes that can be used separately from spoilers to rapidly slow down the aircraft during air combat or to help maintain control during dive bombing. See for example the huge airbrakes on top and bottom of the rear fuselage between the tailfins of an F-14 Tomcat, or the large perforated speedbrakes on the A-6 Intruder. Sometimes speedbrakes consist of flaps or ailerons that split in two during a dive, such as on the A-10 Thunderbolt II. So far I don't know of any flightsim aircraft that has separate animations for spoilers and airbrakes. Usually they are both toggled simultaneously by pressing /.Hope this helps.Misha

Thats a complete explanation. Thanks a lot. I knew they where used for landings and/or in-flight but I didn

Hi :)As you said, you wouldn't use them for takeoff, but you would have them "armed" just in case you have to abort the takeoff, and slow down very quickly. :)http://www.aavirtual.com/images/aav2207_banner.gif

OKBut I have a 737-200 panel that allows exactly this (I didnt image it was for rejected take-off) and the co-pilot in