Originally Posted by Fredairstair
With the greatest possible respect..... could I suggest RTFM (if you have one)
Yeah yeah. I knew I'd some responses like this which is why I wrote
My type has no autobrakes so I smoothly apply the brakes immediately the nose gear touches down.
To reiterate, I do not apply brakes before nosegear touchdown and nor do I intend to. Our SOP is infact 'Apply the brakes with no delay after the nose wheel has touched down'. I was actually asking if any types of aircraft other than the one I fly do use main gear braking in normal conditions before nosegear touchdown.
Thanks Bullethead I thought as much because whenever I'm down at LHR I watch the big stuff land and sometimes they touchdown and hold the nosegear for a very long distance, certainly further than the distance I need to land and vacate in my type. They also appear to slow down considerably while the nosegear is still up and therefore must surely be braking.
On the type I fly there is indeed a sophisticated anti-skid protection, locked wheel protection and touch-down protection. Touchdown protection inhibits main gear braking for 3 seconds after touchdown or until wheel speed is above 50kts. This system is linked to the main gear weight-on-wheels proximity switches only (I have my mauals infront of me Fredairstair), but is not linked to the status of the nosegear so I could brake before nose gear touchdown, but since the nose tends to drop quite heavily anyway it would be foolish to try this hence the question about other types.