Power-Off Stalls

The approach-to-landing stall. Straight ahead it simulates a stall from trying to stretch a glide after an engine failure, or being low on approach; from a turn it simulates the base-to-final stall (AFH 5-17, 5-18; AC 61-67C, par. 104a).

The framing matters because a student who thinks of it as "the maneuver where I raise the nose and it shakes" has learned nothing transferable. Brief the scenario first, then the maneuver — that's the intensity principle: learning connected to a real situation sticks (AIH 3-13).

Per AFH 5-17, taught as a flow:

1. Clear the area; pick an entry altitude that finishes no lower than 1,500 feet AGL (ASEL/ASES) or 3,000 feet AGL (AMEL/AMES) (AI.X.C.S2).
2. Extend the landing gear, apply carburetor heat if applicable, retard the throttle, and hold altitude until the airspeed decelerates to normal approach speed.
3. Pitch smoothly down to a normal approach attitude to hold that airspeed; extend flaps as configured; adjust pitch to hold speed.
4. Set the power to idle — this is the stabilized descent the ACS requires (AI.X.C.S4).
5. Once approach attitude and airspeed are stable, smoothly raise the nose to an attitude that induces a stall and hold it with elevator until the stall occurs (AI.X.C.S5).

Never carry airspeed in excess of normal approach speed into the entry — it produces an abnormally nose-high attitude (AFH 5-17).

Straight: specified heading ±10°. Turning: a specified bank not to exceed 20°, ±5°, held until the impending or full stall as the evaluator specifies (AI.X.C.S6).

The trap is the ±5° — tighter than the power-on stall's ±10° (AI.X.D.S6). It is easy to let the bank shallow as you raise the nose. And the AFH warns you not to try to land on a heading: no attempt should be made to stall or recover on a predetermined heading, though a base-to-final simulation should normally occur within about a 90° heading change (AFH 5-18).

Reduce the AOA — always first. The AFH is blunt: there have been numerous situations where pilots did not first reduce AOA and instead prioritized power and altitude, resulting in a loss of control (AFH 5-15).

The generic template, adapted for a single-engine trainer with no autopilot (AFH 5-15, 5-16):

1. Pitch nose-down — as much nose-down input as required to eliminate the stall warning, and hold it there.
2. Roll wings level with ailerons, coordinating with rudder to cancel yaw and prevent a spin.
3. Add power as needed — smoothly, with rudder and elevator stopping any yaw or pitch excursion.
4. Return to the desired flightpath, avoiding a secondary stall.

Then configure per the manufacturer and accelerate to VX or VY (AI.X.C.S9), returning to the assigned altitude, heading, and airspeed (AI.X.C.S10).

Because it doesn't fix the stall at all. Adding power typically reduces the loss of altitude during a stall recovery, but it does not eliminate a stall — the reduction in AOA is imperative (AFH 5-16). Power buys altitude; only AOA reduction buys lift back.

The instructor-depth nuance to add: for propeller-driven airplanes, power application increases the airflow over the wing, which does assist recovery (AFH 5-16). So power helps — after the AOA is fixed, not instead of it. The common error is literally listed: "Pilot attempts to recover with power before reducing AOA" (AFH 5-21).

Not the technique. The AFH is explicit: "Pilot training should emphasize teaching the same recovery technique for impending stalls and full stalls" (AFH 5-17).

What changes is where you stop the entry and what the evaluator asked for (AI.X.C.S8):

• Impending stall — AOA causes a warning but has not reached the critical AOA. Reduce AOA immediately at the warning and hold the nose-down input until the warning is eliminated (AFH 5-12, 5-17).
• Full stall — the critical AOA is exceeded. Indications are typically an uncommanded nose-down pitch that cannot be readily arrested, possibly with an uncommanded roll (AFH 5-12).

Impending-stall performance is unsatisfactory if a full stall occurs, an excessively low pitch attitude is reached, or the pilot fails to prevent excessive airspeed, excessive altitude loss, or a spin (AFH 5-17).

Because there's no propwash energizing the airframe. In a power-off stall the buffeting and shaking cues are less noticeable than in a power-on stall; in the power-off 1G stall the predominant cue may be the elevator control position — full up against the stops — and a high descent rate (AFH 5-15).

Give them all four channels (AFH 5-13):

• Feel — control pressures lighten, larger movements needed, response time increases.
• Hearing — the sound of airflow along the structure changes.
• Vision — pitch awareness matters, but vision is not foolproof: the airplane can stall in any attitude.
• Kinesthesia — the seat-of-the-pants sensation, once properly developed.

"Unload first. Reduce AOA until the warning stops, then level the wings." Name it immediately and correct the sequence — this is the input that produces spins. If the airplane rolls left and they apply right aileron, the down-deflected aileron on the left wing raises that wing's AOA and induced drag, stalling the tip more completely and rolling it further left (AFH 5-15).

The AFH lists both errors separately — "Pilot attempts to level the wings before reducing AOA" and "Failure to roll wings level after AOA reduction and stall warning is eliminated" (AFH 5-21). Recovery technique is the same regardless of whether a wing rolls off first (AFH 5-18).

Teach three things:

• The response is identical and immediate. There is one stall recovery, and step one is always reduce AOA until the warning stops (AFH 5-16). The student should never wait to diagnose why the horn is sounding.
• The warning means the wing is close, whatever the airspeed says. A warning at a "safe" indicated airspeed means load factor, contamination, or a gust has moved the stall speed — a stall is the result of excessive AOA, not insufficient airspeed (AC 61-67C, par. 100b).
• Never silence it by habit. Unacknowledged warnings are what turn a recoverable moment into an accident; NTSB data show most stall/spin accidents happen when the pilot is momentarily distracted from flying (AC 61-67C, par. 3 and 101).

This is the risk element people skip, because it isn't about the maneuver. The horn in a practice stall is expected; the horn on a normal approach, in the flare, on a go-around, in a steep turn, or in the climb after takeoff is unexpected, and that is the one that kills people. The instructor habit that builds it: whenever the horn sounds in normal flight — yours or theirs — name it out loud and make them respond, then debrief what moved the stall speed. A warning is never background noise.

• Altitude floor — plan to complete no lower than 1,500 feet AGL single-engine, 3,000 feet AGL multiengine (AI.X.C.S2; AC 61-67C, par. 103).
• Uncoordinated entry — a slip lets the outer wing stall first and drop abruptly; a skid can increase the bank further to a potentially dangerous attitude (AFH 5-18). Guard the rudder pedals.
• Excessive forward pressure on recovery, producing low or negative G — a listed common error (AFH 5-21) and startling to a student.
• Secondary stall from a rushed pull-up — Task X.H.
• Excessive airspeed buildup and altitude loss during recovery (AFH 5-21).
• Turbulence and high density altitude (AI.X.C.R6) — a gust can stall the wing well above book speed (AC 61-67C, par. 100l).

Take the controls when yaw develops and is not corrected, or when the nose goes well below the recovery attitude and keeps going.

I follow the AIH's prescribed sequence (AIH 2-12):

1. Review the aerodynamic principles first and explain how stalls affect flight characteristics.
2. Carefully describe the physical sensations to be expected — the buffet, the sink, the nose drop.
3. Describe the recovery procedures before flying them.

The AIH treats this as a named instructional problem: anxiety is probably the most significant psychological factor affecting flight instruction, and the effective technique is to treat fears as a normal reaction rather than ignoring them (AIH 2-12).

I also take the maneuver apart: demonstrate each stage of an impending or full stall separately, then let them practice the stages, so the comfort level develops before the whole is assembled (AIH 2-9). Emphasize benefits and satisfying operations rather than continuously citing the unhappy consequences of poor performance (AIH 2-12).

Talk through cause and effect, and say what you are about to do before you do it:

1. "Clearing turns. Our floor is [altitude] — we'll be done above it."
2. "Carb heat, gear down, power back. Holding altitude to approach speed."
3. "Approach speed. Nose down to the approach attitude. Flaps full."
4. "Throttle idle — this is a stabilized descent, just like short final."
5. "Now the mistake: I'm going to raise the nose as if I'm stretching the glide. Watch the airspeed."
6. "Horn. That's your first indication — feel the controls getting soft."
7. "Buffet. Nose is dropping and I can't hold it — that's a full stall."
8. "Recovering: nose down until the horn stops... wings level, ball centered... power in... flying again. Now VY, flaps up in stages."

Then debrief the altitude lost — the number, out loud.

From AFH 5-21, the ones that live in this Task:

• Failure to adequately clear the area.
• Inadvertent accelerated stall by pulling too fast on the entry.
• Inability to recognize an impending stall condition, and failure to take timely action during impending-stall practice.
• Failure to maintain a constant bank angle during turning stalls.
• Failure to maintain proper coordination with the rudder throughout stall and recovery.
• Recovering before reaching the critical AOA when a full stall was requested.
• Not maintaining a nose-down input until the stall warning is eliminated.
• Over-reliance on the airspeed indicator and slip-skid indicator while excluding other cues after recovery.

Correct each by naming it in one short phrase in the airplane, then debriefing the fix on the ground.

The AFH says power-off stalls should be practiced at all flap settings to build familiarity with handling arising from mechanical failures, icing, or other abnormal situations (AFH 5-17).

Add AC 61-67C par. 200e: have them fly the full-flap, gear-extended power-off stall with correct recovery and cleanup, note the altitude loss, then repeat it with a distraction during the stall and recovery, and show how errors in flap-retraction procedure can cause a secondary stall.

That last item is the bridge to Task X.H, and worth flying back-to-back with it.