"Ed Rasimus" wrote in message
news
On 13 Jan 2004 06:58:46 -0800, (Frank Hitlaw)
wrote:

Dan, Tarver lost me with the fixed spoiler,what purpose would it
serve on an aircraft.It would be pretty silly to have a spoiler fixed
stowed or deployed. Then again you have to consider the source of this
information.I am still looking for section 40 on Boeing aircraft.

Frank M.Hitlaw

Well, if we take the concept of "spoiler" as a device to destroy lift,
and fixed as being a permanent, unmovable device, then we find
examples on a lot of airliners. Look out the window at the top surface
of the wing at those rows of little (about an inch high and four or
five inches long) vortex generators. They are clearly spoilers of the
smooth, lift-generating surface of the wing and they are fixed. Their
function is to activate and energize the boundary layer and they
actually keep smooth flow attached to the wing upper surface.

Or, maybe we could consider wing fences on highly swept wing aircraft.
They spoil span-wise flow and are definitely fixed.


Ed Rasimus
Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret)
"When Thunder Rolled"
Smithsonian Institution Press
ISBN #1-58834-103-8