Regional Jet 900 (CRJ900)
Time Pressure; Confusion; Troubleshooting; Workload
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Flight Crew Became Reoriented; Flight Crew Overcame Equipment Problem; General Maintenance Action
Chart Or Publication; Company Policy; Procedure; Aircraft
On base to final after being cleared for the approach; with flaps at 20; and at the moment of lowering the landing gear; we received 'SPOILERONS' and 'FLT SPOILERS' cautions. The First Officer was flying and I had her take over the radios and normal checklist while I then opened the QRH to reference the abnormal condition. When I went to the abnormal flight controls section; it was not there!....it was abnormal fuel. I than decided to check all the abnormal tabs; and was unsuccessful in finding the proper checklist. I inquired the First Officer about a possible go-around; but decided to continue because we didn't have the right checklist to run anyways. I also used other indications to decide to continue based upon my systems knowledge. I know if you have the flight spoilers deployed the lower stall range will usually creep up close to; and occasionally surpass VREF. Based on this knowledge; I determined that the spoilers were not deployed because the lower stall tape was well below VREF; and I looked at the flight control synopsis page and it indicated that they were all down. The First Officer also said she didn't feel anything unusual; so based on this information we decided to continue. At that point I resumed my pilot not flying duties. I asked the First Officer to keep the speed slightly 5-7 KTS above REF all the way in and to touchdown no slower than REF. She accomplished this and we landed uneventfully. At the gate after shut down we both got the QRH out and it still took us over 20 minutes; looking page by page to find the checklist. The Abnormal Flight Control Checklist was located halfway through the Emergency Landing Gear Checklist. The first way to avoid this situation is to have a properly ordered checklist in the airplane in the first place!!! This to me is totally unacceptable. This is why I think it would be great if we expedited the checklist to be in our own manuals that we are responsible to keep in proper order. At my previous airline we did this and it was quite successful. I might also add that the emergency flight controls section was ENTIRELY MISSING. The QRH binder is made out of dirt cheap plastic rings that never stay together and this leads to this problem as the book falls apart over time. This is unacceptable and should be changed immediately. How will the FAA respond to a declared emergency and the flight crew found the checklist was missing? After looking back at my actions; I could have called for the go-around anyways and called Dispatch and asked them to run the checklist over the radio with me. I also would like to know what really went wrong? I believe it was a sensor issue.....did I correctly diagnose the problem? I know after a lot of our write-ups; we leave the airplane and never really find out exactly why the aircraft malfunctioned. I am curious so I can handle the situation better next time. I have only been on the airplane for just over a year and there are still new things I keep learning.
A CRJ-900 EICAS alerted SPOILERONS and FLT SPOILERS when the landing gear was lowered but because the crew could not find the proper checklist they landed prior to taking action and later found the proper checklists in the Emergency Landing Gear Checklist.