Greetings all,I just completed an MD11 flight, and noticed something I had never seen before. After landing, I was at the gate looking around the cockpit. I noticed that the autobrakes knob was in full view. Normally, it's "hiding" behind the ground spoiler lever. I was wondering what happened to the spoiler lever (I thought it had disappeared), and finally saw it in the horizontal position, past the speed brake detents. In the training videos, I've always seen it upright, making it hard to turn the autobrake knob. Is it ever ok to leave the handle in the lower (horizontal) position, or should it be kept upright (vertical)?Many thanks

Hi Ron,That's the ground spoiler deployed position. After landing it should be in the upright, lowered (i.e. non-armed) position. Normally, this happens automatically when you advance the throttles as you taxi in, so it's unusual to find it in the deployed position on gate.

Mark,When exactly should it be on that horizontal position, if at all?

Mark,When exactly should it be on that horizontal position, if at all?

Hi Ron,Provided you arm the ground spoiler prior to landing (i.e. right click on the handle) then the spoiler lever will go to that position as soon as you're on the runway and the 'spoilers deployed' call is made. The moment you move your throttle out of idle, you'll hear a 'CLACK' noise, which is the lever returning to the upright position. Many people wouldn't be looking down at this part of the VC as they roll out and taxi clear, so often by the time your scan returns to the center console the lever has already come back up.