Who here has accidentally stalled a plane?

[timfountain]

I can't honestly say I've ever accidentally stalled an airplane. I've had the stall horn come on before on an over aggressive rotation on takeoff, but that's about as close to it as I've come.

That was me. All of 100 hours and 3-up in a Cherokee 140 on a hot day out of Addison, TX. Stall horn bleeped as we hit a thermal on climb-out, looked down at the ASI to see it was not much above the bottom of the green arc. Nosed down and put in a lower climb gradient. My one and only lesson in attention to airspeed on climb out.

- Tim

 

[Martymccasland]

The one I think is somewhat meaningless, is power on stalls.

Truly not trying to be a "gotcha", but you need to immediately schedule some training with a CFI.

A plane can be stalled at any airspeed.

 

[rottydaddy]

No, we SURVIVED because we were (for the most part) smart enough to be high enough for our fooling around. As many have mentioned, inadvertent mistakes too often happen at low altitude, where the pilot doesn't have a chance to recover.

Amen.
This is why I was taught to consider 1500 AGL the absolute minimum for steep turns or slow flying (with gliders). That rule applies pretty well to just about any fixed-wing aircraft .

 

[comanchepilot]

Depends on the air frame - but there are many many airframes once you get past the initial trainer / Skyhawk / Cherokee level that make the oncoming stall literally painfully obvious - forget the stall warning horn - the thing shakes and the airflow so turbulent the noise and shaking in the stick or yoke tell you easily 10 knots before anything remotely aerodynamic occurs.

 

[AEROBAT]

I have accidentally stalled many times. Allways doing acro though. Hammerheads come to mind as well as a few times at the top of the loop.

 

[bobmrg]

And how many times did they crash?

Seriously, I was taught that stalling had everything to do with angle of attack, and that no matter what your velocity was you will ALWAYS stall if you exceed that angle of attack. It does not matter if you are banking, or straight and level, descending, or ascending exceed that angle of attack and you stall.

If you just think about it that way and forget about speed it seems a fairly simple thing. The solution then becomes just as simple; if you stall all you need to do is decrease your angle of attack.

When I first thought about it I had the similar confusion I thnk most of us have in that certain configurations give different stall speeds, but I was told that the reason we stall is that it is the increase in the angle of attack and when we get too slow the angle of attack to keep lift adequate to keep the plane flying is over the critical angle and thus we stall. By increasing power you decrease the angle of attack necessary to provide that lift and thus end the stall. However, at the end of the day it is still all about angle of attack. Am I missing something?

Doug

Doug, my post had less to do with angle of attack and more to do with not being a slave to the airspeed indicator.

Bob Gardner

 

[GCA319]

During commercial training, I accidently stalled at the top a chandelle.

 

[Sam D]

To the OP, this sad thread shows why we practice power on stalls:

http://www.pilotsofamerica.com/forum/showthread.php?t=54520

 

[1600vw]

I tried to read all the posts here but do not have the time. Not sure if anyone mentioned this but.

Get yourself the Book written by Rich Stowell.....Stall / Spin Awereness....

After you read this you will understand AoA and the stall, how the two go hand in hand. I believe every pilot should read this book.

Harold A. Sweet

 

[1600vw]

I found I learned a lot about stalls and spins while using FSX by microsoft. You do not get that " seat of the pants " feel, but you will understand how AoA can cause you to stall.

Also using this porgram you can visit those airfields that are mentioned here. Its not quit like being there but next best thing.

Harold A. Sweet

 

[AcroBoy]

Stalled going straight down at 180k trying too hard a pull after a humpty. Not really a big deal. Seems like cornering is best just at the edge before it stalls.

 

[TulsaWeather]

I kicked into a spin entry practicing power-on stalls in a painfully out-of-rig, beat up 172 trainer the evening before my checkride. Ugh.

ailerons neutral, power idle, step on rudder opposite rotation, yoke forward, power in.

Scared me witless initially, but honestly, no problem, but glad my CFI did spin entries several times with me during training.