Narrative:

After being cleared for a visual approach I turned the base leg; called for flaps 9; and after leveling at 3000; set the altitude for the first approach fix. Decelerating through 200 and slightly above glideslope; I selected approach mode and pressed the quick disconnect button to hand-fly the approach. At that time; the caution message spoiler fail displayed and the spoiler indication showed open with the lever closed. I added power to somewhere in the area of 78% N1 and we were maintaining altitude and airspeed at 200 KIAS. I told the captain (ca) that I was going to maintain 3000 feet and then I kept the plane straight and level to gauge any new handling characteristics. The ca took the controls and informed the tower then flew a ground track over the runway with the intention of making a pattern to land.after running the QRH procedure; we flew a pattern planning to land visually with gear down and flaps 22 per the QRH. The spoiler indication was open for some time. While maneuvering; the ca pointed out that the spoilers showed closed; and I told him I would be scanning them in the event they deployed again. Our pitch/power settings for landing were normal for that configuration. The flight concluded uneventfully.I believe that the spoilers did actually deploy without command on the initial indication. I believe that they slowly 'bled' back down during the second visual pattern as a result of the QRH procedure. Ca feels he wasn't certain how much they actually deployed because at no point in his pattern did he feel an acceleration that would be typical of the spoilers closing in normal operation. I agree there was not a surge like he mentioned; but I think they clearly deployed at least partially due to the power settings I used to maintain equilibrium after the initial indication.the spoilers deployed independently of command during the approach phase of flight. This worked well as a crew because I had recently reviewed this QRH procedure in training and felt very proficient at it. I have always remembered this one because of the circuit breaker collars that are already in place; and I had imagined this condition would be more dire than it was. I assumed it was a bigger deal than it was and I think that was the best position for us to be in. In this situation we did not have a fuel issue in clear weather; next to the runway; with other airports nearby. I can think of a couple flights this last summer while maneuvering around thunderstorms that; if this same deployment had unexpectedly happened; continuing to an unexpected alternate with only the planned 1701 pounds of reserve and spoilers stuck open would have been a really undesirable situation to have flight planned our way into. I will be much more aware of the potential for an unexpected higher fuel burn to an alternate based on something like this.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: EMB145 flight crew experienced a SPOILER FAIL message with a SPLRS OPN inscription on the EICAS on downwind. QRH procedures were followed and at some point during the procedure the spoilers were noted to be down. The approach was accomplished using QRH flap setting and approach speed for the anomaly to a successful landing.

Narrative: After being cleared for a visual approach I turned the base leg; called for flaps 9; and after leveling at 3000; set the altitude for the first approach fix. Decelerating through 200 and slightly above glideslope; I selected approach mode and pressed the Quick Disconnect Button to hand-fly the approach. At that time; the caution message SPOILER FAIL displayed and the Spoiler indication showed open with the lever closed. I added power to somewhere in the area of 78% N1 and we were maintaining altitude and airspeed at 200 KIAS. I told the Captain (CA) that I was going to maintain 3000 feet and then I kept the plane straight and level to gauge any new handling characteristics. The CA took the controls and informed the tower then flew a ground track over the runway with the intention of making a pattern to land.After running the QRH procedure; we flew a pattern planning to land visually with gear down and flaps 22 per the QRH. The Spoiler indication was open for some time. While maneuvering; the CA pointed out that the spoilers showed closed; and I told him I would be scanning them in the event they deployed again. Our pitch/power settings for landing were normal for that configuration. The flight concluded uneventfully.I believe that the spoilers did actually deploy without command on the initial indication. I believe that they slowly 'bled' back down during the second visual pattern as a result of the QRH procedure. CA feels he wasn't certain how much they actually deployed because at no point in his pattern did he feel an acceleration that would be typical of the spoilers closing in normal operation. I agree there was not a surge like he mentioned; but I think they clearly deployed at least partially due to the power settings I used to maintain equilibrium after the initial indication.The spoilers deployed independently of command during the approach phase of flight. This worked well as a crew because I had recently reviewed this QRH procedure in training and felt very proficient at it. I have always remembered this one because of the CB collars that are already in place; and I had imagined this condition would be more dire than it was. I assumed it was a bigger deal than it was and I think that was the best position for us to be in. In this situation we did not have a fuel issue in clear weather; next to the runway; with other airports nearby. I can think of a couple flights this last summer while maneuvering around thunderstorms that; if this same deployment had unexpectedly happened; continuing to an unexpected alternate with only the planned 1701 LBS of reserve and spoilers stuck open would have been a really undesirable situation to have flight planned our way into. I will be much more aware of the potential for an unexpected higher fuel burn to an alternate based on something like this.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.