Speed brake inconsistent operation when using joystick buttons

  • Pushing the speed brake extend button on any of the military jets gradually extends the speed brake, which is expected.

    Doing the same on e.g. the airliners, the speed brake extends only ~5%, which means I need to push the button 20 times to get them to fully extended.

    That's rather awkward.

  • It works flawless on my joystick Logitec Extreme 3D Pro via a self configured button.

    Real name: Johnny

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    • Official Post

    Ah, ok Joystick is a different story, let me check what we can do about that.

    Keyboards have a default key repeat frequency, so the operating system already sends us numerous key presses when you hold down the key, at least I think that's how it works. Buttons of a joystick don't do that, so we have to emulate the same behavior.

  • FL54 July 8, 2021 at 8:53 AM

    Changed the title of the thread from “speed brake inconsistent operation” to “Speed brake inconsistent operation when using joystick buttons”.
  • i'm a bit confused, when I push the button on any plane(Jetliners and fighterjets) the brake-spoilers activates and a next action on same button does the opposite. Why a need to raise the speedbrake-flaps in different steps?

    Real name: Johnny

    PC-Specs: i7-3930K - 32GB RAM - GTX1070ti 8GB - 2TB SSD + 1TB SSD + 2x3TB HDD

    Laptop Specs: i7-9750H - 32GB RAM - RTX2070 max-Q 8GB - 2x 1TB NVMe SSD + 2TB SSD

    • Official Post

    i'm a bit confused, when I push the button on any plane(Jetliners and fighterjets) the brake-spoilers activates and a next action on same button does the opposite. Why a need to raise the speedbrake-flaps in different steps?

    Airbrakes in an airliner are often extended slowly by the pilots to avoid passenger discomfort. Airbus does this automatically but Boeing planes extend them much quicker to follow pilot orders more closely. If you're not careful this could spill a lot of coffee in the cabin.

    They also use half airbrakes more often than full airbrakes because they are usually just slightly above profile which only needs a small correction. In the 737 and 747 using full airbrake is also prohibited in flight, pilots have to limit the extension to the flight detent (about 70%). In the A320 airbrakes only extend half way as long as autopilot is engaged. Disengaging autopilot can therefor cause sudden airbrake extension, so pilots just move the lever half way unless they are flying fully manually.

    And last but not least: To arm the ground spoilers in Boeing aircraft the lever is moved out of the retracted position to armed. But they are not extended at that point. Only after touch down does the lever move to full automatically, deploying the spoilers. In Aerofly you can arm the airbrakes with a single push of the extend button.

    Those are some of the reasons why airbrakes are not extended in a binary 'all or nothing' fashion in airliners.

  • Furthermore in airliners (and in military jets) you need to be able to precisely control the ROD.

    Once you are at idle thrust, the only way to achieve that is the variable extension of the speed brakes.

    ikbenik, I still don't understand how you are able to extend/retract the speed brakes with a joystick button, especially apparently only retracted or fully extended.

    Edited once, last by FL54 (July 8, 2021 at 5:34 PM).

  • Hello FL54,

    That's right, as I'm not using flightsim as a 100% simulation of the real thing, applying the button for me is enough to engage/disengage (full)airbrakes.

    Real name: Johnny

    PC-Specs: i7-3930K - 32GB RAM - GTX1070ti 8GB - 2TB SSD + 1TB SSD + 2x3TB HDD

    Laptop Specs: i7-9750H - 32GB RAM - RTX2070 max-Q 8GB - 2x 1TB NVMe SSD + 2TB SSD