Chair flying / Teaching the Power-Off Stall

Teaching the Power-Off Stall

Brief, demonstrate, and coach a power-off stall from the right seat — the narration, the common student errors, and when you take the airplane.

Preflight brief on the ground: what, why, how, and the completion standard
Name the maneuver, tie it to the ACS task and the standard, explain why it matters operationally, then walk the procedure. The student should be able to describe it back before engine start (AIH ch. 5).
Set the ground rules: positive exchange of controls, three-way
Every transfer is spoken and acknowledged both ways, with a visual check. Establish it before the first maneuver and hold it all flight (AIH ch. 8).
Clearing turns and airspace — you are responsible for the whole airplane
Demo with a running narration — talk the picture, not just the numbers
Say what you look at and when: outside references, then the instrument cross-check. The student learns your scan, not only your control inputs.

Setup

Brief the objective: recognize the approach-to-landing stall and recover with minimum altitude loss
Frame it as the landing-pattern scenario it simulates — this is the stall that kills people on base-to-final.
Brief your student's job vs. your job, and the abort criteria“If I say 'my controls,' let go and say 'your controls'”
Clearing turns and altitude — recovery complete no lower than 1,500 ft AGL

Demo: configure as for landing, power to idle, hold altitude, narrate the cues
Say the cues out loud as they arrive: airspeed decaying, controls going soft, stall warning, buffet. The student is learning what to notice, not just what to do.
At the break: pitch down to reduce the angle of attack, full power, level the wings“Reduce AOA — power — wings level”
Hand it over: student flies it while you talk them through the same cues
Coach, don't grab. Let small errors happen and be named — a corrected error teaches more than a prevented one.
Watch for the classic errors and name each one as it appears
Recovering at the warning instead of the break; using aileron to pick up a dropping wing (rudder first); pitching down too far and diving; forgetting carb heat or the flap schedule on recovery.

You take the airplane if: uncoordinated at the break, a spin entry develops, or altitude floor is reached“My controls”
Debrief in the air while it's fresh, then again on the ground against the ACS standard

Demonstrating silently — the student sees the maneuver but not the cues
Taking the controls at the first student error instead of coaching
Letting the student recover at the stall warning when the task calls for a full stall
No abort criteria briefed, so the takeover feels arbitrary