Makes sense and I've always noticed that the slats deploy first in the process of the flaps going to 5 or 10 degrees, however, on my recent shuttle flights that only the slats are deployed and stay that way for ten minutes or so. 50 trips between BOS and LGA and I'm just noticing this now. -----Original Message----- From: The Airline List [mailto:AIRLINE@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Simon Craig Sent: Thursday, February 12, 2004 3:30 AM To: AIRLINE@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: Re: Airbus question At 10:07 AM -0500 11/2/04, Tyler Munoz wrote: >Does anyone know if it is "SOP" on A318/19/20/21 aircraft to deploy the >slats on approach prior to flaps being deployed or in lieu of spoilers? >US Airways shuttle aircraft seem to do this all the time when the=20 >descent begins. Standard practice on most aeroplanes, Tyler. In terms of flaps and slats (or leading edge flaps), slats are always the first out and the last back in. In normal operation the pilots have no control over this. Spoilers are optional really - used for slowing the plane down or changing the descent/glide path. -- Regards, Simon Craig If it's not McBoeing, I'm not McGoing!