Avro Vulcan With Air Brakes Extended

[polar_bear]

On a recent BBC2 episode of Cold War Britain, an Avro Vulcan was seen taking off with airbrakes deployed. Was this usual practice ?

[tellboy]

No this is definitely not standard operating practice and highly dangerous to do on most aircraft

[tellboy]

Longer Answer
“Air Brakes” are a type of flight control surface to increase drag and reduce the speed for landing.
Air Brakes are often positioned on a non lift producing part of the aircraft, sometimes on the rear fuselage and are useful if you want to slow down, but still maintain lift.
On the Avro Vulcan they are actually in a lift producing area but by their design they do not directly effect lift when extended so are called Slat Air Brakes

If they are positioned in a lifting area of the wing and they also directly disrupt the airflow and thus reduce lift they are called “Spoilers”.
A glider is so efficient that they are needed on the wings and extended in order to get rid of the lift and adjust their angle of descent by increasing the drag. This slows the glider during descent and the approach to the runway.
Spoilers are also useful when landing to prevent bouncing. The auto brakes on many passenger aircraft also deploy the spoilers once the wheels touch the ground to prevent the aircraft from becoming airborne again.

[bhg481]

Repeat post
http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/ChatterBank/Question1292814.html

[kit_yardley]

Not a usual practice but since they are airbrakes and not spoilers ( ie have little effect on lift) it may be that they can be used to control over speed when performing high power/LOW AUW TAKE offs.