do passenger planes have brakes ? or do they just rely on reverse thrust ?

Answer 1

all planes weather there passenger or millitary are fitted with three independent brake systems
1..reverse thrust
2..flaps
3..drum brakes on wheels
hope that clears your confusion

flt ltn Moss
RAF upper heyford

Answer 2

Yes airplanes have brakes. Contrary to most opinions here, on a jet aircraft equipped with reverse thrust, the normal braking accounts for 80-90% of stopping power when an airplane lands. In fact in the vast majority of jets, reverse thrust is not even used in calculating stopping distance. On many jets, the "reverse thrust" really only destroys the pushing ability of the engines, but does not provide any reverse function. There are some aircraft (such as DC-9s and the 737-100/200 series) that the reverse is effective enough that you can "power back" without a tug, but it takes a lot of power to get a small ammount of backing power.

The "air brakes" people refer to, those panels that pop up on the wing when an airplane lands, are not for aerodynamic braking. Those panels are called "spoilers". Some spoilers are used only in flight and in that case the do provide an aerodynamic braking function. But on the ground, when all the spoilers deploy, they are used for destroying lift on the wing, thus putting all the weight on the wheels to make the wheel braking more effective. On some aircraft this is refered to as the "ground lift dumping system".

On a turboprop, the reverse thrust is very effective, and normal wheel braking may only be used right near the end of the landing roll. On the King Air family, the netural prop position, called ground fine or beta range, is very effective itslef and often slows the aircraft to almost taxi speed before you can get them into reverse range.

Answer 3

Andrew L has it right!

All transport aircraft have brakes. They are disc brakes on the main gear and on some aircraft on the nose gear as well. They have an anti-skid system similar to ABS on a cars too. They are applied by using the top of the rudder pedals. Many planes have an autobrake system that when armed will gradually apply automatic braking as the airplane touches down and the wheels come up to speed. It is usually triggered by a combination of main wheel spin up and the deploying of the ground spoilers and in some cases compression of the nose gear strut and will give a predetermined deceleration rate
The sequence on landing is the ground spoilers are deployed on touch down, this eliminates most of the lift from the wing and gets the weight on the wheels. Reverse engine thrust is used at higher speeds down to approx 60-80 kts. Reverse thrust in combination with the brakes, either automatically or applied by the flying pilot is what is mostly responsible for slowing the plane. Some airplanes, as one writer said, use large panels at the rear of the plane as aerodynamic drag as a braking force instead of engine reversers.

Answer 4

Yes planes have brakes but they are only used for the final stopping / manoeuvring as they would be no good to try and stop a passenger plane weighing 62,000 Kg with nearly 200 people, luggage and freight on board.

The reverse thrust is first used to slow down the plane and then slowly brakes / airbrakes are applyed until either ground crew take over or the plane is steered by the pilot to its final disembarkation point where the internal brakes are used for a final stop.

BTW - That puff of smoke you see when the plane touches down isn't the brakes - thats tyre rubber as the wheels aren't moving as fast as they need to be when the plane touches the ground - A bit like tyre smoke from your car if you slam on your brakes and the tyre lock up.

Answer 5

Although several answers have correctly stated that most passenger airplanes have the option of both brakes and reverse thrust, I think it is also interesting to note that when the Learjet was first produced, among its many innovations was the option to include a drag parachute. When landing on really short runways the original Learjet had all three of these options to slow down; drag chute, reverse thrust, and finally multiple disc brakes. Thank you for your question!

Answer 6

Yes planes do have brakes used to bring the aircraft to a complete stop, reverse thrust is used when the aircraft lands thats when they cant only depend on brakes..

Answer 7

yes. jets use reverse thrust to slow down from landing speed to about 40-50 mph before applying the wheel brakes to take over and as others have said, they use the wheel brakes when taxiing and to hold the airplane at the end of the runway to build up thrust in certain situations like a short field takeoff on a hot day at max takeoff weight.

Answer 8

They have brakes on the wheels.
Most also have reverse thrust, and/or some form of aerodynamic brakes.

What are generally called "air brakes" on aircraft tend to have limited effect on slowing the aircraft, but instead disrupt airflow over the wing, reducing lift, allowing the angle of descent to be controlled.

The BAe 146 and derivatives don't have reverse thrust, so rely only on the wheel brakes, plus an aerodynamic brake at the rear of the fuselage.

Answer 9

Yes, all planes have brakes.
If you ever get a chance to sit in the cockpit of a plane you will notice the rudder pedals by your feet. These are used to steer the plane and they are also the brake pedals.
Pressing down on both of the rudders employs the braking system.

On larger planes they also have a parking brake that locks the wheels in place.

Answer 10

Of course they have brakes! How else would they come to a full stop??

Not every aircraft has reverse thrust or spoilers (sometimes incorrectly called "air brakes") but every aircraft has conventional brakes on the main landing gear.

Answer 11

They do have brakes used for slowing or stopping the plane at taxi speeds, but the main method of slowing the plane is the reverse thrust method you mentioned.