Page 14 - PDF-Sample

Chapter-5 Stalls and Spins-V20_Sport Pilot Handbook 8/30/2021 5:56 PM Page 10

5-10 Rod Machado’s How to Fly an Airplane Handbook

As a practical matter, you don’t have to climb after recovering from a stall if the stall occurs at a
high enough altitude and you are in complete control of the airplane. You can recover to level flight or
recover into your previously-established descent, if appropriate. Then again, if you’re close to the
ground and stall, it’s clear that avoiding contact with the surface is your immediate priority. That’s
why stall practice typically involves climbing after stall recovery. This simulates the worst-case risk of
being dangerously close to terra firma and making you super flata.
The Airman Certification Standards require that you return to the altitude, heading and airspeed
specified by the examiner if you are taking your private pilot checkride.
Let’s review a few essential features of the stall you just expe- Holding Full Aft Elevator
rienced. Suppose you held the elevator control fully aft as the
wings stalled and didn’t release back pressure on the yoke (Fig-
ure 13). Would the airplane remain in a stalled condition and
simply sink quietly (except for your shrieking) to earth? Hardly.
We’ve already seen that the sudden decrease in lift as you
exceed the critical angle of attack causes the nose to initially
Not Releasing Elevator Back Pressure After Stalling

Purposely holding full elevator back pressure after the stall is a training maneuver
known as the Falling Leaf Stall (the airplane pitches up and down in a falling leaf
stall). Its intent is to demonstrate the airplane’s longitudinal stability. This isn’t Fig. 13
something you want to do in real life to recover from a stall, either.
Stall
Stall

C A

B
Because airplanes have a built in longitudinal stability, they naturally tend to pitch nose down
D after stalling (normal c.g. location assumed, of course). Therefore, holding the elevator control
full aft after a stall results in a sequence of descending stalls and recoveries. Fig. 14