1) When do you use Level change and when do you use V nav in a climb2) do you ever use flaps 23) what does flap inhibit normal mean?4) how often is auto land used5) do you leave anti ice on for the whole flight?6) what are MEL issues7) what are specials8) Why do the outboard ground spoilers deflect up to a higher angle than the rest of them?9) do the IRS's have to be aligned every flight?Thanks Michael Pare.

1) When do you use Level change and when do you use V nav in a climb2) do you ever use flaps 23) what does flap inhibit normal mean?4) how often is auto land used5) do you leave anti ice on for the whole flight?6) what are MEL issues7) what are specials8) Why do the outboard ground spoilers deflect up to a higher angle than the rest of them?9) do the IRS's have to be aligned every flight?Thanks Michael Pare.

I'm not a real pilot, but I've spoken to enough people, done enough advanced flight simming and read enough to answer a few of those.4.Only for practice/currency for the crew and aircraft and in weather that requires it. Autoland can only be performed at airports equipped with an appropriate ILS system.5. Nope, only in icing conditions.6.Minimum equipment list. Inoperative equipment that is permitted on a flight.9.As far as I know, yes. They're pretty much the whole navigation system.

1) When do you use Level change and when do you use V nav in a climb2) do you ever use flaps 23) what does flap inhibit normal mean?4) how often is auto land used5) do you leave anti ice on for the whole flight?6) what are MEL issues7) what are specials8) Why do the outboard ground spoilers deflect up to a higher angle than the rest of them?9) do the IRS's have to be aligned every flight?Thanks Michael Pare.

Not a pilot, but due to my job, I work with them on a daily basis;1) VNAV is used when the optimum (= most fuel efficient) climb or decent path is to be followed. LVL-Change gives an "as fast as possible" level change at a set speed. 2) When during the decent you need the additional drag to get the airspeed down. The 737 can be a bit hard to slow down during the decent. Every little bit of drag can help in cases where you need to decent and reduce your speed at the same time.3) when you're above the maximum speed defined for a certain flap setting. 4) Mandatory: Differs a bit per company, but ILS CATIII for certain. Some companies also demand it for CATII. Besides that; every so much flights the pilots need to perform an autolanding to stay current with the related procedures.5) Nope. Only during icing conditions. Note: Engine anti-ice is used as soon as the dewpoint is below 10 degrees Celcius and when you're flying into a "moist" environment such as a cloud or when it rains. Wing anti-ice is only used when it snows or when the dewpoint is below ... (don't know the exact limit) and in "moist" conditions.6)Minimum Equipment List; closely related to the DDPG; Dispatch Deficiency Procedure Guide. It tells you what parts of your aircraft systems are allowed to be in-operable, with what restrictions if any (like payload, or ETOPS, etc) and for how many flights.7) Not sure what you mean here.8) I'll have to check, but I believe it has to do with the location they have on the wing and the forces they generate when in up position.9) Yes. And most companies have it in their procedures to re-align them during turn-around at the gate.

8) Why do the outboard ground spoilers deflect up to a higher angle than the rest of them?Thanks Michael Pare.

The answer is partially to be found in your misconception that all of the spoilers are 'ground spoilers', this is not the case. The outboard spoilers on a 737 NG wing (four in total including the small trapezoid shaped ones) are indeed ground spoilers, but the ones on the inboard of these are 'flight spoilers'. So their differing heights when fully deployed is a function of what their main purpose is.But how they deploy is also affected by aileron input as well as speed brake position. You can feel this on a 737 in flight (and you will presumably be able to try this on PMDG's new NG, since it is apparently going to be realistic), where the roll rate actually increases if the spoilers are deployed. This is known as having 'differential spoilers'. Incidentally, all the ground spoilers are powered by the A system, whereas the flight spoilers are powered by both systems, although various ones use the A system and others use the B system.Al

The answer is partially to be found in your misconception that all of the spoilers are 'ground spoilers', this is not the case. The outboard spoilers on a 737 NG wing (four in total including the small trapezoid shaped ones) are indeed ground spoilers, but the ones on the inboard of these are 'flight spoilers'. So their differing heights when fully deployed is a function of what their main purpose is.But how they deploy is also affected by aileron input as well as speed brake position. You can feel this on a 737 in flight (and you will presumably be able to try this on PMDG's new NG, since it is apparently going to be realistic), where the roll rate actually increases if the spoilers are deployed. This is known as having 'differential spoilers'. Incidentally, all the ground spoilers are powered by the A system, whereas the flight spoilers are powered by both systems, although various ones use the A system and others use the B system.Al

I understand that, just why do the small outboard spoilers deflect up to a higher angle than the rest is my question.

5) do you leave anti ice on for the whole flight?

That would not be a very wise thing to do - nothing is 'free' and anti-ice robs aircraft of some power.

I understand that, just why do the small outboard spoilers deflect up to a higher angle than the rest is my question.

And Alan told you why.

If it wasn't clear: the ground spoilers are for dumping lift and aerodynamic braking, but they have a secondary function in assisting roll, so they come up a long way when acting in their primary role as lift dumpers/brakes in order to make that happen. The roll spoilers (aka flight spoilers) augment the aileron's function of tilting the aircraft's lift vector sideways, so they tend to only come up a little bit just to dip the wing instead of making that wing fall out of the sky from a massive loss of lift, since if they dumped too much lift by coming up too high, they would negate the whole point of changing the lift vector in order to turn, and increase the risk of an asymmetric stall and possible spin.If you can't pilot a real 737, take a flight in a glider (most gliding clubs will let you do so for 20 quid or so and let you handle the controls). Gliders have big spoilers on the wing that can be deployed in varying degrees by a sliding control in the cockpit. You will see that if you let the spoilers out a little bit, you can lose some lift in a nice controlled way, but if you pull them out all the way, they not only slow you down, but the thing starts to fly like a grand piano from having dumped so much lift.Al

7) what are specialsThanks Michael Pare.

This is when you go out for dinner and the waitress defines the food that is on "special", meaning you do not have to pay regular price. Really has nothing to do with being an NG pilot. In fact any pilot could tell you which restaurant has specials since we are known to be cheap buggers. Just ask RSR. We laugh about it all the time! Hehe. But on a serious note, Mike, I will post a message in a bit explaining some of these items for you.JackColwill

Specials refer to special needs passengers that require additional assistance at the arrival gate as far as I know.

1) When do you use Level change and when do you use V nav in a climb2) do you ever use flaps 23) what does flap inhibit normal mean?4) how often is auto land used5) do you leave anti ice on for the whole flight?6) what are MEL issues7) what are specials8) Why do the outboard ground spoilers deflect up to a higher angle than the rest of them?9) do the IRS's have to be aligned every flight?Thanks Michael Pare.

Not a NG pilot but I used fly the classics up until 1995 as a First Officer.1) Level change during most descents and some climbs depending on if ATC need a better rate of climb.2) Not in my company but I've heard some other airlines used it. I believe it was carried over from the 707 cockpit design.3) This means that the FSEU is functioning normally and providing protection from flap overspeed.4) When weather dictates it must be or in good weather to keep current. Not really any other time, as it increases workload and manual landings better the pilots hand-flying skills.5) No unless needed.6) Minimum equipment list, The list of systems that must be operative for the flight to be dispatched.7) Havn't a clue, special meals for the crew maybe?8) I know that they do deflect higher but not why, you'd have to ask a mechanic about that but Al seemed to have it explained above.9) Depends on the drift, but they needn't be turned off and then on again, only the position in them updated.

'Specials' are indeed passengers (or sometimes cargo) that has a special requirement. A typical one would be a wheelchair user, but it may be an animal in the heated baggage hold being met by someone or something of that nature.If you have ever traveled with anyone who is in a wheelchair on a flight, you will know that they are usually boarded first and invariably put right up near the front, they are also usually taken off last, this is to avoid delays in the boarding procedure. Because the passenger's wheelchair is placed in the cargo, the person will be boarded and deplaned with an airport/airline property wheelchair. Thus the airline or crew can sometimes radio ahead to destination airport saying they have 'X amount' of specials, typically specifying what is needed, such as three wheelchairs at the gate or whatever and whether the wheelchair users are 'walk ons' or not (i.e. some wheelchair users might be able to walk the short distance off the aircraft unaided with a stick, but need a chair most of the time), if not, of course may need a few airport staff to wheel the things up the air bridge or onto the aircraft and assure that the person gets their own wheelchair back when it is offloaded.Al

'Specials' are indeed passengers (or sometimes cargo) that has a special requirement. A typical one would be a wheelchair user, but it may be an animal in the heated baggage hold being met by someone or something of that nature.If you have ever traveled with anyone who is in a wheelchair on a flight, you will know that they are usually boarded first and invariably put right up near the front, they are also usually taken off last, this is to avoid delays in the boarding procedure. Because the passenger's wheelchair is placed in the cargo, the person will be boarded and deplaned with an airport/airline property wheelchair. Thus the airline or crew can sometimes radio ahead to destination airport saying they have 'X amount' of specials, typically specifying what is needed, such as three wheelchairs at the gate or whatever and whether the wheelchair users are 'walk ons' or not (i.e. some wheelchair users might be able to walk the short distance off the aircraft unaided with a stick, but need a chair most of the time), if not, of course may need a few airport staff to wheel the things up the air bridge or onto the aircraft and assure that the person gets their own wheelchair back when it is offloaded.Al

Dispatch usually takes care of that for us and not the pilots.

Then you are lucky, I've heard several crews on ATC making that call at Manchester. :( Al

Then you are lucky, I've heard several crews on ATC making that call at Manchester. :( Al

Must have been a mistake on the crews part then, I'd imagine if it was up to the crew then they would be supposed to call the gate agents and not the towerNot to mind though, I remember on one of my earlier flights the captain made the PAX announcement on the clearance frequency.... Didn't exactly inspire me with confidence but he was approaching retirement at that point, always going on about the pension he was, "If they keep working us this hard I'll wont be seeing much of my pension" he used say, as if I was going to waltz up to management and demand they work us less hard just for the sake of his pension... But I digress...

That was a good thing in disguise, as you know, an F/O is supposed to be watching to make sure the left-seater does things correctly, so it was probably decent practice. If the guy in a certain KLM 747's right seat had been doing that a bit better, there might have been a happier ending in store for his passengers.Al