Do major passenger airline jets have airbrakes/speedbrakes?

Question

Now I've heard that passenger airliners do not generally have airbrakes , and simply use their spoilers as airbrakes since they can perform the same function.

Are there any major jets that use speedbrakes (by major I mean widely used by countries or airlines, and it must be a passenger jet)

Possible Duplicate: For large jets, what is the primary means of slowing down after landing? — Farhan, Oct 30 '14 at 18:39
You understand that a spoiler is essentially a type of airbrake, right? It's just specifically one that also reduces lift. — Jon Story, Oct 31 '14 at 21:40
@JonStory as you pointed out, they're not the same. Spoilers reduces lift (vertical force), thus if a pilot wishes to maintain vertical speed, AoA has to be increased. When AoA increases, drag increases. Airbrakes increases drag directly by countering the forward momentum of the aircraft. I believe that's what the OP is asking. — kevin, Nov 02 '14 at 13:18
Airbrakes also reduce lift (vertical force) - when your aircraft slows down, it reduces lift.... the Spoiler has lift reduction as a primary function with reduction in airspeed secondary, whereas an airbrake is the reverse: the essential point remains that both reduce lift and airspeed. — Jon Story, Nov 02 '14 at 17:43

RedGrittyBrick · Answer 1 · 2014-10-30T14:46:37.777

11

Yes (for some values of major)

^{Adrian Pingstone}

^{(c) Harm Rutten}

edited Oct 30 '14 at 14:46

answered Oct 30 '14 at 14:40

RedGrittyBrick

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I am not sure if thrust reversers (2nd picture) would count as conventional airbrakes. – yankeekilo Oct 30 '14 at 14:54
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@yankeekilo: redirect your gaze to the rearmost point of the Fokker 70 fuselage. – RedGrittyBrick Oct 30 '14 at 14:57
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Hehe, talk of human factors... I was browsing on my smartphone on the go and only registered the reversers :D – yankeekilo Oct 30 '14 at 14:59
@yankeekilo. Actually Concorde used to use its reversers as airbrakes during the descent. – vectorVictor Oct 31 '14 at 02:42
@vectorVictor Very interesting! That would sure merit an answer if not for the demise of the Concorde program. – yankeekilo Oct 31 '14 at 09:35

Do major passenger airline jets have airbrakes/speedbrakes?

1 Answers1