What are all the things airplanes use to stop?

Question

Is there anything else an airplane uses to stop other than brakes, spoilers, and thrust reversers?

Answer 1

spoilers, flaps, (yes there is a difference) brakes, and thrust reversers (if applicable).

Answer 2

The ONLY thing used to STOP an aircraft under normal operating conditions are the brakes. Spoilers, thrust reversers, etc. are only used to SLOW the aircraft.

Exception: Military fighter aircraft also have a tail hook. It's the only way to stop a fighter on an aircraft carrier.

Answer 3

Back in the 50, at Craig AFB in Alabama, the Air Force was experimenting with a stopping system similar to how the Carriers do it. After the jet, (T-33) landed, and rolled towards the end of the runway, the front gear snagged a cable which caused a second cable to jump up and snag the main gear. The second cable was attached to two humungus anchor chains laid out on the sides of the runway. The chains were laid out in an "S" configuration so as the jet moved down the runway, more and more of the chain would be dragged, until the jet stopped.

Answer 4

Parachutes are used on SOME high performance aircraft today (SR71, Shuttle) when they are operating from short runways. On the ground it is usually; brakes, or thrust reverser for jets and reversing the pitch of the prop is often used on STOL aircraft such as the DHC Beaver, Otter....etc.

In the early days of aviation planes didn't have brakes and they would fly in just above stall and use friction of the runway and people running out to grab hold of the beastie.

Answer 5

Many 1950 to 1980 vintage fighter aircraft regularly used small parachutes stowed in the tail to assist in stopping and to reduce wear on the brakes. They were also installed in some small corporate aircraft (Falcon 10 for example) for emergency use.

Answer 6

What else would there be? Brakes spoilers and thrust reversers are all that is needed...usually.

Answer 7

2 all those experts out there who use spoilers, brakes and reverse here is a question - how r u gonna stop tu 144/???? tu 160???

Answer 8

The Lear 35 that I used to fly had a neat option installed. A drag chute. We never had to use it but it was fun to be the guy doing the last landing before it was due to be repacked each year. Worked pretty good.

Answer 9

20Feet over the runway , touch down , throttle back , flaps up , reverse thrust , air brakes , manual brakes .

Answer 10

In case you are not familiar with all these terms, i.e. spoilers, flaps, reverse thrusters, brakes. I will explain them for you.

Spoilers: They are basically a piece of the (most commonly) wing that will protrude upward to break the flow of the air.

Flaps: Flaps are pretty much the same but they protrude downward. Flaps are also used during slow flying to increase the surface area of a wing. Slow flying includes taking off, landing and in some cases in the need to turn the plane around in a small area such as in a canyon.

Reverse Thruster: The enginge actually is also used to slow the plane down. Instead of the engine directing the thrust backwards a shield is slid over the back of the engine to direct the thrust forward thus slowing the plane down.

Brakes: Large planes tend not to use brakes as much when slowing down from high speeds. Brakes get worn out so fast that it would be tough keeping up with maintenance. So if absolutely needed they will use them or if the plane is slow enough to just tap them as in the taxiing or just the final end of a landing.