What is the difference between 'Air brakes' and 'Spoilers' for an aircraft?

Clement Viscarro: Aircraft Air Brakes

Madge Voice: In addition to the previous answers, spoilers can be used for control functions. The P 61 Black Widow didn't have ailerons. It used spoilers for roll control. Boeing uses spoilers in addition to ailerons at lower airspeed for roll control,and to reduce adverse yaw from aileron inputs

Rolanda Merritt: Look at the truly awful BAe 146, it has both.

Penelope Armond: Air brakes differ from spoilers in that air brakes are designed to increase drag while making little change to lift, whereas spoilers greatly reduce the lift-to-drag ratio and require a higher angle of attack to maintain lift, resulting in a higher stall speed.Most gliders are equipped with air brakes on the wings for approach control during landing.Often, characteristics of both spoilers and air brakes are desirable and are combined - most modern airliner jets feature combined spoiler and air brake controls. On landing, the deployment of these s! poilers causes a dramatic loss of lift and hence the weight of the aircraft is transferred from the wings to the undercarriage, allowing the wheels to be mechanically braked with much less chance of skidding. In addition, the form drag created by the spoilers directly assists the braking effect. Reverse thrust is also used to help slow the aircraft after landing....Show more

Hollis Demasters: A spoiler's primary use and hence its name, is to disrupt the airflow over the wing and destroy or "spoil" its lift producing properties. It isn't a true speed brake that's designed to do "as it says on the tin". Speedbrakes tend to be all or nothing - you want to slow down or you don't where Spoilers are used as required to adjust the descent.

Launa Weingarten: Air brakes increase the drag on the aircraft, but do not directly affect lift. Air brakes are often positioned on a non lift producing part of the aircraft and are useful if you want to slow down, but maintain lift! . Spoilers disrupt the airflow over the wings and therefore re! duce the lift they are producing. Spoilers are useful when landing to prevent bouncing. The auto brakes on many transport aircraft also deploy the spoilers once the wheels touch the ground to prevent the aircraft from becoming airborne again. Spoilers also can increase the drag on an aircraft, and are often used to slow down during decent and approach....Show more

Star Gollnick: Speed brakes (or boards) is the vernacular of both military fighter and attack pilots."Air brakes" is the term used by novice jet students until they learn better. They are used for 3 jobs - (1) rapidly slow the airplane, (2) allow the plane to descend at an extremely nose-down attitude without the usual acceleration and (3) allow the plane to land using a high thrust setting while controlling the rate of descent with the throttle(s).Spoilers are used to kill the lift generated by the wings. This allows the plane to put more weight on the main mounts and slows the plane for a shortened landing! roll. Spoilers on my planes were actuated by weight on the main mounts (automatic) and were not pilot controlled (cuts down on the dumb-a$$ factor)....Show more