ACR WDB INCURRED TRAILING EDGE FLAP DISAGREE MSG AND LOCKOUT; EXECUTED MISSED APCH; EXTENDED FLAPS PER ABNORMAL PROC AND LNDG. REPORTER ALSO COMPLAINS ABOUT WARNING ALERTING SYSTEM ON ALT ALERT AND SPOILER SYSTEM INDICATION.

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ALL PROCEEDED AS EXPECTED UNTIL THE CAPT COMMANDED FLAPS PAST 5. AS SOON AS THE FLAP POS INDICATOR SHOWED JUST PAST 1; THE FLAPS SEEMED TO LOCK OUT AND THE EICAS STATUS MESSAGE CAME ON. IT INFORMED US THAT THE TRAILING EDGE FLAPS ASYMMETRY HAD OCCURRED. THE CAPT THEN MADE A GO AROUND. I INFORMED THE TWR THAT WE WERE DISCONTINUING THE APCH. I RAN THROUGH THE AFTER TKOF CHKLIST; AND THEN CONTACTED DEP (APCH) CTL. WE WERE ASSIGNED AN ALT OF 3000' AND VECTORS WITHIN THE LCL AREA. UPON THE CAPT'S COMMAND I RAN THE TRAILING EDGE FLAP ASYMMETRY CHKLIST. WE THEN LOWERED THE FLAPS THROUGH THE ALTERNATE MEANS; FOLLOWING THE CHKLIST TO THE LETTER. SUBSEQUENTLY; WE ASKED AND WERE ASSIGNED ANOTHER APCH TO THE ARPT. THE CAPT ASKED ME TO REQUEST RESCUE EQUIP TO BE STANDING BY FOR OUR LNDG. I DID AND THE CTLR ASKED US FOR THE FUEL QUANTITY AND NUMBER OF PAX. I PROVIDED BOTH. OUR LNDG WAS W/O INCIDENT. THE CAPT FLEW THE ACFT AND T/D WAS MADE WITH FLAPS 20 AND THE APPROPRIATE VREF FOR FLAPS 20; AS PER THE APPLICABLE CHKLIST. WE CANCELLED THE REQUEST FOR EQUIP AFTER ROLL OUT; AND WE TAXIED TO THE GATE UNDER OUR OWN PWR AFTER EXITING THE RWY. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS OCCURRENCE WAS NOT; I FEEL; ATTRIBUTABLE TO THE OCCURRENCE ITSELF OR HOW WE HANDLED IT. WE WERE WELL TRAINED BY ACFT MFR TO DEAL WITH THIS TYPE OF SITUATION. THE SIGNIFICANCE COMES FROM WHAT MIGHT HAVE CAUSED THIS PROB TO BEGIN WITH. THE FOLLOWING MORNING WHEN WE RETURNED TO THE ACFT TO CONTINUE OUR TRIP SERIES; THE MAINT FOREMAN INFORMED US THAT THE MAINT DEPT HAD NOT FOUND ANY PROBS WITH THE SYS RELATED TO THE FLAP OPERATION. FURTHERMORE; HE INDICATED THAT HE HAD ONLY BEEN ABLE TO DUPLICATE OUR PROB BY SWITCHING THE ALTERNATE FLAP SWITCH TO THE UP POS FROM THE NORM POS WHERE IT IS USUALLY KEPT; AND THEN BY ATTEMPTING TO OPERATE THE FLAPS USING THE NORMAL MEANS; (IE; WITH THE HANDLE AND NOT BY THE ALTERNATE SWITCH). HE SAID THAT DOING THIS CAUSED THE TRAILING EDGE FLAPS TO LOCK OUT AT JUST PAST ONE WHEN IN THE LNDG CONFIGN (SIMILAR TO WHAT HAD HAPPENED TO US). HE ADDED THAT; WHILE ON THE GND IN THE TKOF MODE; IT WOULD STILL BE POSSIBLE TO GET FLAPS TO 5. (WE HAD USED FLAPS 5 FOR TKOF AT OUR ORIGIN THE PRECEDING EVENING. I AM ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN THAT THE FLAP POS INDICATOR WAS SHOWING 5 AT TKOF.) I AM ALMOST AS CERTAIN THAT THE ALTERNATE FLAP SWITCH WAS IN NORM AND NOT IN UP AS WE TAXIED FOR TKOF THE PRECEDING EVENING. STILL; I CAN ONLY CONFIRM THAT THIS IS PART OF THE NORMAL CABIN SET UP I AM ACCUSTOMED TO USING. I CANNOT VISUALIZE THE POS OF THAT DIAL AS I CAN THE FLAP POS INDICATOR. THIS SWITCH SHOULD ALWAYS BE IN NORM AND NOT IN UP UNLESS THE ALTERNATE FLAPS ARE IN USE. THE ONLY WAY THAT THIS SWITCH COULD HAVE BEEN IN UP IS IF THE PRECEDING FLT CREW OR THE MAINT PEOPLE WHO HAD WORKED ON THE ACFT AFTER THE (PRECEDING) CREW HAD DEPARTED SWITCHED THE ALTERNATE FLAPS ON AND THEN NEGLECTED TO SWITCH IT OFF. IF THIS HAD OCCURRED; AND IF WE HAD FAILED TO CATCH THE INCORRECT POS ON OUR BEFORE START SWITCH POS SET UP; WE MAY HAVE HELPED TO CREATE OUR OWN PROB. KEEP IN MIND THAT ALL OF THIS IS CONJECTURE. TO THE BEST OF MY KNOWLEDGE THAT SWITCH WAS IN THE NORMAL POS UNTIL I MOVED IT OUT OF SAME DURING THE ABNORMAL PROC. THE TRAILING EDGE FLAP ASYMMETRY PROC IS A RELATIVELY SHORT BUT INTRICATE PROC. STILL; IF WE HAD NOT FOLLOWED IT CORRECTLY; OR IF THE ALTERNATE FLAP MECHANISM HAD FAILED TO OPERATE; WE MIGHT NOT HAVE BEEN ABLE TO LOWER THE FLAPS FOR LNDG. THAT WOULD HAVE PRESENTED ENORMOUS PROBS. IT IS MY STRONG BELIEF THAT BOEING NEEDS TO INSTALL AN ON LIGHT TO INDICATE WHENEVER THE ALTERNATE FLAP SWITCH IS ON OR THE SYS IS ENERGIZED. ABSENT THIS; THERE SHOULD AT LEAST BE A LEAD IN NOTE WITHIN THE TRAILING EDGE FLAP ASYMMETRY CHKLIST TO ALERT THE CREW THAT THEIR PROB MIGHT COME FROM THE ROTARY DIAL BEING IN THE UP RATHER THAN THE NORMAL POS. IF EITHER OF THESE CONDITIONS HAD EXISTED AND IF THE SWITCH WAS IN THE UP POS--I DO NOT BELIEVE IT WAS--I MIGHT HAVE BEEN SPARED THESE OBSERVATIONS NOW. ACFT MFR MIGHT SAY THAT THIS WAS A SIMPLE MISTAKE FOR A FLT CREW TO MAKE. KEEP IN MIND; HOWEVER; THAT THERE ARE HUNDREDS OF LIGHTS AND SWITCHES FOR US TO KEEP TRACK OF. I HUMBLY SUGGEST THAT YOU GIVE THIS MATTER SOME ATTN. THERE ARE 2 OTHER ITEMS I WILL TOUCH ON BRIEFLY. THE FIRST IS THE MATTER OF THE SPD-BREAK/GND SPOILER ARMED LIGHT ON THE WDB. UNLIKE THE MLG; THERE ISN'T ONE. ON THE WDB LNDG CHKLIST; MORE THAN ONCE THE CAPT HAS CALLED THE SPD-BREAK ARMED; ONLY TO SEE IT FAIL TO DEPLOY AUTOMATICALLY UPON LNDG. (THE GND SPOILERS WILL DEPLOY AUTOMATICALLY UPON LNDG ONLY IF THE HANDLE IS IN THE ARMED POS. IF THE HANDLE IS NOT IN THE ARMED POS; THE SPOILERS WILL DEPLOY AUTOMATICALLY ONLY WHEN REVERSE THRUST IS ACTUATED. IN THIS LATTER SITUATION; VALUABLE STOPPING TIME AND DISTANCE MAY BE WASTED.) A SPD-BREAK/GND SPOILER ARMED LIGHT ON THE WDB WOULD NOT GUARANTEE THAT THE SPOILERS WOULD DEPLOY ON LNDG; BUT IT MIGHT AT LEAST ASSURE THE CREW THAT THE MECHANISM WAS EITHER DEFINITELY ARMED OR DEFINITELY MALFUNCTIONING. FINALLY; ON THE WDB; THERE IS NO ALT ALERT BELL 900' BEFORE REACHING THE ALT WHICH HAS BEEN SET ON THE MCP. OSTENSIBLY; THIS IS FOR MAINT OF THE QUIET COCKPIT CONCEPT. I CAN DEFINITELY NOT SPEAK AS AN AUTHORITY ON HUMAN FACTORS; BUT I WOULD FEEL A LOG MORE SECURE IF; LIKE THE MLG; THE WDB HAD A SINGLE AURAL TONE TO ACCOMPANY THE LIGHT WHICH NOW APPEARS BTWN 900 AND 300' ABOVE/BELOW THE MCP ALT. CALLBACK CONVERSATION WITH RPTR REVEALED THE FOLLOWING: NARRATIVE SHOULD BE CORRECTED TO STATE EICAS MSG WAS THAT A TRAILING EDGE FLAPS DISAGREE OCCURRED; NOT A TRAILING EDGE FLAPS ASYMMETRY. RPTR POINTED OUT THAT THEIR MANUAL DOESN'T PROVIDE FLT CREW PREROGATIVE OF RETURNING SWITCHES AND HANDLES TO ORIGINAL POS AND RECYCLING ALTERNATE SWITCHES TO NORMAL AND THEN STARTING PROC OVER TO SEE IF LOCKOUT HAS BEEN REMOVED. FEELS THAT MIGHT NOT BE IN THERE SO MFR WOULD NOT HAVE TO ACKNOWLEDGE POSSIBLE PROB TO FAA. RPTR ALSO STATED THAT OTHER ITEMS ARE PERSONAL OPINIONS AND ONCE HE IS USED TO NEW ACFT PROBABLY WILL NOT BE A PROB.