Any time you push the plane to the limits of its performance you have to be aware of the possibility of stalling the aircraft. High performance turns and maneuvers at the edge of "the envelope" of the plane's capabilities need to be performed with care. If you push the plane beyond its abilities, the plane may rebel. The experienced pilot learns the limits of aircraft and learns to "fly the edge of the envelope".

If you push the plane too hard you can stall the aircraft. A stall can cause the plane to enter a spin. The pilot has to react quickly to regain control of his aircraft, or it may well enter a spin from which the plane cannot recover.

• Power on stalls - most likely to happen during or just after take-off.

• Power off stalls - most likely to happen during landing.

• Accelerated stalls - most likely to happen at high altitudes and high airspeeds.

What is a Spin?

 
When a plane enters a stall, the plane will normally begin to roll to one side. There are two main reasons for this. When the plane enters the stall, the torque of the engine may start to roll the plane in the opposite direction of the prop's rotation. This is possible because the wing lift is no longer providing the steadying influence that keeps the engine torque under control. The second reason is that one wing may lose lift before the other. This causes the wing that still has lift to start the plane rolling because the plane has lost lift of the other wing.

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Warning Signs of an Impending Stall

• The Stall Horn - This is a warning horn that lets you know when you are nearing the edge of a stall. The louder it gets, the more likely a stall. The Stall Horn was installed for a reason - ignore it at your own risk!

• The controls of the plane starts to get "mushy" when you know you are pushing the aircraft too hard!

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Stall Recovery

• React quickly - the sooner you react to the stall the better the chances of recovery.
• Push the stick forward gently - try to get the nose down to regain airspeed so that the wings can regain lift.
• Apply opposite rudder - apply rudder in the opposite direction of the spin. Once the spin starts to slow down, you are on your way to recovering from the spin.

Things not to do!

• Overreact! - Don't overreact to a slight stall - that may cause the stall to become worse!
• Pull back on the stick! - Pulling back on the stick when you feel your plane beginning to stall is just going to make the impending stall and spin worse. No matter how tempting - don't do it! To the beginner pilot, pulling back on the stick seems the "natural" thing to do. Don't follow instinct. Follow training. Push the stick forward, get the nose down and apply opposite rudder; get that airspeed back up and regain normal flight.

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Fletchman on Spins

 
"If you want to avoid making "big smoking holes in the ground", an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure! That is; practice spin recovery off-line, and practice early and often."

"Practicing recovery is easy. You can force yourself into a spins of a various degrees of severity by simply flying below stall speed, trying to turn too hard or too quickly. It is also important to learn the stall characteristics of the various planes - especially the ones you intend to fly often. The Zero stalls quite differently from the F4U Corsair! (They called it the "Ensign Eliminator" for a reason - the stall characteristics.)"

"Learn to "sense" the beginning of a stall - the best way to avoid becoming a statistic is to nip the stall in the bud as soon as possible. The longer you wait to react to the spin the worse it will get, and the more likely it is that you will end up scattered debris!"

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More Info and Related Links

 
Physics of Flight

Trimming your Aircraft in WarBirds

 

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