How Can You Tell If Your Spoilers are Armed?

Mike - This is the default FSX 737-800 panel. I have circled the annunciator gauge, circled in yellow, that illuminates when you have the spoilers armed!

Some of the larger Boeings and Airbus Aircraft do not have this gauge. I have added it to most of the aircraft I have that did not have this!

Rick :cool:

Mike - This is the default FSX 737-800 panel. I have circled the annunciator gauge, circled in yellow, that illuminates when you have the spoilers armed!

 

Some of the larger Boeings and Airbus Aircraft do not have this gauge. I have added it to most of the aircraft I have that did not have this!

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]225367[/ATTACH]

 

Rick :cool:

That says the Speed Brake is armed, not the spoilers.

pdmike,

What we call the "speed brakes" and the "ground spoilers" are different functions of the same hydraulically actuated panels atop the wings. Both functions are controlled using the speed brake handle on the Captain's side of the pedestal. Pulling the handle aft in flight will extend some of the spoilers only part way to act as speed brakes. When the aircraft touches down with the spoilers armed, all the spoiler panels fully extend to kill the wings' lift. The SPD BRAKE ARMED light refers to the ground spoilers.

So in flight you use the spoilers as speed brakes. On the ground, the spoilers work as spoilers. (In flight, the spoilers also assist in roll control...but that's beyond the scope of this answer :) )

Mike - You are getting Auto Brakes and Speed brakes confused with each other. Speed brakes are spoilers!

Rick :cool:

Thanks Victoria, you explained it better than I did!

Rick :cool:

to arm the spoilers press

shift + /

together

And without a visual cue, you can just look at the speed brakes position. If it's at the half way mark or where it says something like ARMED, then you'll know.

It's been a while now, but off the top of my head, in the PMDG 737 I think the PFD will say whether they're armed or not in magenta. It's been a very long time since I flown the PMDG 737.

Mike - You are getting Auto Brakes and Speed brakes confused with each other. Speed brakes are spoilers!

 

Rick :cool:

I knew that. ;)

I hate to keep belaboring this topic, but (now that I know that speed brakes and spoilers are the same thing), I am wondering why my spoilers don't activate when the mains touch the runway, even though I have activated the spoilers and it so indicates on the panel. Default B737-800.

Anyone? Is this a bug?

maybe you are not reducing thrust.

autospoilers retract again when you increase yhrust. To make it easyer to go around. That's in case you need to need to go around after touching down. (Not enough runway remaining for example.)

maybe you are not reducing thrust.

autospoilers retract again when you increase yhrust. To make it easyer to go around. That's in case you need to need to go around after touching down. (Not enough runway remaining for example.)

Last thing I do before touch down is turn off AP and the Autothrottle. I also make sure the joystick throttle is in full off position. I don't think I am increasing any thrust in between the time I turn off all those things and touch down. Might I unknowingly be increasing thrust by failing to do something else I should have done? If so, what?

Hard landing may be a cause!

I touch down smooth as glass. Would you try it with your 737-800 and see if they deploy for you on touch down?

Last thing I do before touch down is turn off AP and the Autothrottle. I also make sure the joystick throttle is in full off position. I don't think I am increasing any thrust in between the time I turn off all those things and touch down. Might I unknowingly be increasing thrust by failing to do something else I should have done? If so, what?

For example by pressing F3 by mistake. Or touching your throttle during the stress off landing. Or by not having a steady throttle signal (need to calibrate).

I hate to keep belaboring this topic, but (now that I know that speed brakes and spoilers are the same thing), I am wondering why my spoilers don't activate when the mains touch the runway, even though I have activated the spoilers and it so indicates on the panel. Default B737-800.

 

Anyone? Is this a bug?

Probably. I can never get the auto spoilers to fully active when landing most default FSX aircraft. Payware aircraft are not a problem. It doesn't seriously affect my landings but yeah that is one more thing that doesn't work quite as intended in FSX.

I touch down smooth as glass. Would you try it with your 737-800 and see if they deploy for you on touch down?

Sorry, no Sim loaded on this computer! I never had a problem with the default 737-800. It was mostly with 3rd party addon aircraft.

Quick question...pdmike! How are you viewing the spoilers not rising as you land? Are you landing in an outside view or using the replay feature. Some animations may not show during replay.

I like to land in spot plane view from directly behind the aircraft.

I'm kind of chuckling here. You say you never had a problem with spoilers extending automatically in default aircraft but they wouldn't do it in the add-ons. TextRich says just the opposite - that he has never had a problem with add-ons, but it's the default planes that won't do it for him.

You know, if you take a look at the Similar Threads, below, it appears this is a long-standing problem with FS in general. Just sayin'

For example by pressing F3 by mistake. Or touching your throttle during the stress off landing. Or by not having a steady throttle signal (need to calibrate).

Interesting. The first two never happen, but I might not be getting a steady throttle signal. How do you calibrate your joystick to insure a steady throttle signal? Just go through all of the calibration steps?

yes.

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thought: are you looking at spoilers in a recorded flight perhaps?

Because in recordings those kind of things do not show.

I'm thinking that if you don't apply reverse thrust the spoilers won't extend.

The spoiler thing is a PITA sometimes in default aircraft. With the spoilers, sometimes there's a sweet spot to get them armed right. That also could be your issue absent of using reverse thrust.

In the Lear 45 I have to set a button on my yoke for reverse thrust since the throttle on the yoke when moved all the way down just idles the engines. So when I land I idle then hit the reverse engines button I set on the yoke, except I also have to press it twice since if I just press it once I get half reverse thrust. A quick second press of the button and I have full reverse thrust. Then when I'm down to about 90 knots I hit the other button twice in quick succession to stop reverse thrust.

yes.

 

 

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thought: are you looking at spoilers in a recorded flight perhaps?

Because in recordings those kind of things do not show.

No. I am watching in spot plane view from behind the aircraft in a "live" landing.

I'm thinking that if you don't apply reverse thrust the spoilers won't extend.

 

The spoiler thing is a PITA sometimes in default aircraft. With the spoilers, sometimes there's a sweet spot to get them armed right. That also could be your issue absent of using reverse thrust.

 

In the Lear 45 I have to set a button on my yoke for reverse thrust since the throttle on the yoke when moved all the way down just idles the engines. So when I land I idle then hit the reverse engines button I set on the yoke, except I also have to press it twice since if I just press it once I get half reverse thrust. A quick second press of the button and I have full reverse thrust. Then when I'm down to about 90 knots I hit the other button twice in quick succession to stop reverse thrust.

The spoilers are supposed to extend when the main wheels hit the runway.

"Sweet spot"? I don't understand. To arm the spoilers, all you have to do is hit Shift-/. Where does a "sweet spot" figure into that?

What's a PITA?