stalling!!

Last summer on frequency someone had a stuck microphone so we were all listening in on the crews (at least on of the pilots) conversations. It was only about 2-3 minutes of talking but you could make out the pilot saying “What the heck is this thing doing now? It shouldn’t be doing that. Well……that’s the Airbus for you.”

It was pretty funny.

…or the commercial version –

‘whatsit doing now?’

more fav words

“should the ground be up there?”

“why arent we moving?”

“Im sure the runway should be there!”

“I need the loo!”

Re: Re: Word of comfort

Originally posted by Moggy C
Told you so!

3 favorite words of any pilot. 😉 😀

Some least favorite:

What’s that smell?

What’s that noise.

Hey, watch this.

Re: Word of comfort

Originally posted by Moggy C

Afterwards you’ll wonder what you were worrying about. 🙂

Moggy

Told you so! 😉

Small hurdle out of the way, on to the next challenge huh?

Enjoy every moment of it Loz, you never get to do your ab initio training again.

Moggy

Glad to hear it went well. There is so much to explore with stalls so continue to push your instructor and you’ll learn a lot in the process. Remember, keep the dirty side down. 🙂

Re: done it

Good to hear it mate, but remember, once you’re through the course and you’ve got your licence, just pop up from time to time on your own and practice your recovery drills, just to keep ’em current. 😉

All the best fella.

done it

Finally the slow flight lesson over and done..

my instructor showed me a stall at the start of the lesson so i wasnt worried about stalling it all the time..

dont know what I was worried about, its nothing! I have sooo much more confidence in the plane now, and know some of its limits, so I can go on and get used to flying it without worrying about stalling all the time!

Thanks for all your help

Loz

thanks alot everyone!!

I have the lesson on wednesday so hope for good weather and i will let you know how i got on!!

I know flying is a continual learning curve and you should always be thinking of safety! I certainly want to have flying (as a hobby) for as long as I can get into a cockpit, and at 20 I hope thats a long time!!

Put it this way… i dont want to be a statistic!!

Thanks again

loz

I was often told going through my training that the 500 hour pilot is the most dangerous pilot in the sky. Looking back on my experiences as well as my friends and students I can agree with that.

In the hundreds upon hundreds of stalls I’ve done and taught they always are full of new suprises. Always expect the unexpected. There was one C172 at one of the flight schools that I instructed that didn’t stall, it only spun. After several attempts at a stall and realizing that it wasn’t the student (usually the reason 🙂 ) we took it back to the hangar and grounded the aircraft. The students sharp skills and calm manner made this suprise nothing more than routine recovery.

Originally posted by Coke611
i think that once I have done one stall, and know wot to expect

Whoa fella! Whatever you do, don’t go thinking that you’ll be the kiddie after your first go.

My instructor, some years ago, taught me this saying; “After 50 hours you’ll think you know it all. After 500 hours you’ll know you know it all. But after 5,000 hours, you know you’ll NEVER know it all”.

Every flight is a learning experience. Get complacent, and it’ll bite you. Hard.

Loz, lots of wise words have already been spoken on here. WhiskeyDelta’s absolutely spot on with the hangar flying – learn your drills. Then practice, practice, practice, so that when (not if) you have to recover from a stall, it’s second nature.

And Moggy’s spot on about the PA28 – in a power on stall, it’s all I can do to get the bugger to break! 😀

Don’t lose sight of the reason why you’re learning this. Not to get through the test, but to help keep you (and those who fly with you) alive. The object isn’t to put you through a stall and scare you s–tless, it’s to teach you how to recognise a stall, understand how and why you get into one, how to get out of it safely, and most importantly, how not to get into one in the first place.

Oh and one other thing – your instructor is probably not earning enough money to want to put himself in any great danger, so that should give you a clue as to how easy and docile he’ll make it… 😉

Good luck, and remember – RELAX. 😀

yeah i must admit i too am not exactly fond of the idea of stalling the aircraft, but at the end of the day it is a vital part of my training, and i think that once I have done one stall, and know wot to expect, I will be alot more comfortable.

Cheers

Coke611

Mixtec, I think poor decision making is the biggest killer in GA not stalls.

Word of comfort

In normal training configuration the PA26-161 is VERY docile in a stall.

Afterwards you’ll wonder what you were worrying about. 🙂

Moggy

loz- First I want to say that its very good that you are up front about your fear of stalls. In my opinion PPL training softpedals the actual dangers of stalling an aircraft accidently, and many peoples confidence stems form lack of awareness of the dangers that confont them. Stalls are the #1 reason for fatalitys in private aviation and you have to fly defencively to stay away from stalls just as you have to drive defencively in a car to avoid collisions. Your fear is good, and only knowledge will help you handle that fear head on.

Another bit of advice I can give is doing what we called at my flight school, hangar flying. When you have freetime and there’s a free airplane, take sometime to sit in the cockpit and practice the stall procedures from start to finish. Several students I had who had problems with the stall series ususally were a result from their lack of knowledge of the procedures. Once they got the procedures down they were able to concentrate on the flying portion and not keeping their head inside trying to remember what to do after they lower the nose. 🙂

Practicing stalls is necessary and is often met with hesitation by many pilots when doing them for the first time, me being one of them. I’d recommend being upfront with your concerns with your instructor. There area many types of stalls and their abruptness depends on the configuration, attitude, power setting, etc. A good instructor will start off with the most mellow and work from there. A power off stall can be performed in a level attitude and results in nothing more than the nose falling a few degrees. It’s a matter starting small and working to more complex stall situations as you become familiar and confortable with stalls.

I too have never been a fan of roller coasters. The big issue is the feeling of a lack of control. I’d rather go up and spin a ratty old trainer than strap myself into a car rocketing down a 300′ hill. No thanks. The nice thing about stalls is you are in control and have the ability to affect the outcome. The sensations are nothing alike in my opinion. Even in my worse stall recovery requiring say 500′ I never had the sensation of the descent. It’s strange that one can alter their atitude by the distance of a very tall building during a stall and feel next to nothing. Do that in a roller coaster and I’m screaming like a little girl. 😀

I always felt it was important for a student to express every concern they have. Comfort comes from knowledge and exposure. Asking questions as you are doing here (and hopefully with your instructor) is an important step in overcoming any hurdle.