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In aeronautics air brakes (sometimes called "spoilers" or "lift dumpers") are a type of flight control used on aircraft to reduce speed during landing.
Air brakes differ from spoilers in that air brakes are designed to increase drag while making little change to lift, spoilers greatly reduce lift while making little change to drag.
Often, both characteristics are desirable - most airliners for example feature combined spoiler and airbrake controls. On landing, the deployment of these spoilers 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 on landing.
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