Don't destroy a nice airplane by putting spoilers on it. Spoilers are for jets and private pilots that want to look cool. Fly the airplane right and you won't need them. I have 2000 hours in Twin Cessna's (roughly half in GTSIO's) and the one time I used them (mostly for troubleshooting a failure of them), the owner of that airplane asked me if parts were falling off of the airplane.

Trouble is the way we get handled by ATC in the northeast especially close in at Class B airports has me saying unable multiple times in the pattern at PHL and going around twice because of how they set me up for the visual to 35. I just can't descend like the Kingair. Even if already back at 20" and props at 1700. Plus then they want speed changes close to airports with "Keep the speed up" when talking to approach, go to the Tower they want you to immediately slow down. Why I think the spoilers might help. It seems I am always searching for more drag.

And the Northeast controllers want at least 1000 FPM descents sometimes, not my preferred far out 500-700 FPM descent profile.

It is just a different world from when the airplanes were new. Using "Golden Eagle" at the beginning of all the radio calls to the next controller should clue them up but not always.

The Feds for some reason insist on call it a 1974 for the Registration. No idea why. Must have been December 31st ? First flight Cessna Flight Test log entry shows 4.8 hrs but no date.

I had spoilers on my 340 and I have them on my 421C. Most of the time I don’t need or use them.
But when I need them, I REALLY NEED THEM. At Fairbanks Alaska the ATC said I could be number one ahead of two 747’s if I could give them 175 KTS to the marker.
I said no problem, at the decent point it was spoilers out at 175 KTS, then approach flaps and gear.
Speed dropped to 120 on the GS and then I gradually reduced power.

Spoilers are great when you really need them, most of time I don’t.

Jason with the vibration I wonder why they don't have holes in the Spoilers. Would it help?

I see in one video mid page they have a panel with holes? http://www.powerpacspoilers.com/testimonials.asp

But yes agreed, I don't really want to add weight, cost and complexity if not needed.

One advantage of the C model is the higher gear speed. With the higher Vle, the gear works fairly well as a speed brake.

Maintenance question.

I have been trying to find a torque for the clamps that hold the flexible duct to the intercooler but no luck. On the H engine. Anyone know where it might be listed? Thanks.

I have found you can get vibration from the spoilers if rudder trim is not perfect. A little left or right rudder or rudder trim usually solves the problem. I also noticed the ball was not dead center when the vibration stopped.

Hi Charlie,

Try 19-20” & 1900 (top of the green). The increased rpm should provide a little more drag AND it sets you up for a go-around should it be necessary - (Just add a some throttle and clean up).

I configure mp & rpm this way every time I’m nearing an airport environment and/or prior to initiating an approach.

Seems to work well for me.

John

interesting on the vibration with yaw. I wonder if the wake from the spoiler hits the horizontal tail if not perfectly centered.

I'll try that RPM MP combination. I usually stayed with lower RPM to be able to get to a lower MP on short final without the reduction gears getting into the Chatter range. Push props up after touchdown.

But the higher RPM may cancel out the higher MP needed to stay out of that range.

I didn’t say anything about vibration, but by design they do. Think about what happens to the air when they are deployed. You can feel and hear it on an airline as they are much larger.

Holes would defeat the purpose.

The best name I heard them called once is “poor planning buttons!”

I rarely use my spoilers, unless ATC screws up my good plans.