Types of Stall in Aircraft: Quiz and Flashcards

Study Notes

Stalls

Stalls occur when the smooth airflow over the airplane's wing is disrupted, causing lift to degenerate rapidly.
This occurs when the wing exceeds its critical angle of attack.
The stalling speed of an airplane is not a fixed value for all flight situations, but the airplane will always stall at the same angle of attack regardless of airspeed, weight, load factor, or density altitude.

Types of Stalls

Power-off stalls: can be encountered during normal landing approach.
Power-on stalls: normally encountered during take-off, climb out, and go-arounds.
Crossed control stall: most likely to occur when a pilot tries to compensate for overshooting a runway during a turn from base to final on-landing approach.

Stall Recognition and Recovery

A typical indication of a stall is a mushy feeling in the flight controls and less control effect as the aircraft's speed decreases.
The reduction of control effectiveness is primarily due to reduced airflow over the flight control surfaces.
To recover from a stall:
- Decrease the angle of attack.
- Smoothly apply maximum allowable power.
- Adjust the power as required.

Spins

A stalled aircraft is a prerequisite for a spin.
Primary causes of spins include:
- Exceeding the critical angle of attack while performing uncoordinated maneuvers.
- Either too much or not enough rudder control for the amount of aileron being used, resulting in a crossed control condition.
Types of spins include:
- Upright or erect spin: slightly nose down, rolling or yawing motion in the same direction.
- Inverted spin: spinning upside down with roll and yaw in opposite directions.
- Flat spin: yaw only, with recovery usually difficult to impossible.

Spin Phases and Recovery

Incipient spin: the portion of a spin from the time the airplane stalls and rotation starts until the spin is fully developed.
Fully developed spin: occurs after the incipient stage, when the angular rotation rates, airspeed, and vertical speed are stabilized from turn to turn, and the flight path is close to vertical.
To recover from a spin:
- Move the throttle to idle to eliminate thrust and minimize altitude loss.
- Neutralize the ailerons.
- Determine the direction of rotation using the turn coordinator.
- Apply the full opposite rudder.
- Apply the rudder opposite the turn.

Description

Test your knowledge on different types of stalls that can occur in an aircraft, such as power-off and power-on stalls. Learn about the causes and factors affecting a stall, including the critical angle of attack and stalling speed variations. Understand how stalls can impact the lift generated by an aircraft's wing.