.................................
Aircraft Wing Spoilers
WHAT ARE SPOILERS AND WHAT ARE
THEY USED FOR?
By Airline Ratings
Have you ever noticed large panels on the upper surface of the wing just forward of the flaps that open partially during the approach, and then open all-the-way once the airplane has touched down on landing?
These panels are called
spoilers, and unlike lift-enhancing devices such as trailing-edge flaps or
leading-edge slats, they are used to actually decrease lift.
They also deploy
asymmetrically to augment the ailerons on each wing for banking the aircraft,
but are deployed together during the approach and landing.
Spoilers serve several very important functions.
In flight, they effectively
increase the aircraft’s rate-of-descent without causing an accompanying
increase in airspeed.
Once the main landing gear is
firmly on the runway, the pilot deploys the spoilers to their fully extended
position, creating the maximum amount of drag to slow the aircraft from its
touchdown speed of approximately 120-to-140 mph to a more proper braking speed
of 60-80 mph.
Once the aircraft has
decelerated to taxi speed, spoilers are stowed.
No comments:
Post a Comment