Secondary Stall Demonstration (ASEL, ASES)

A stall that occurs after recovery from a preceding stall: hence "secondary" (AFH 5-18). It is caused by attempting to hasten the completion of a stall recovery before the aircraft has regained sufficient flying speed (AC 61-67C, par. 106).

Like the cross-control and elevator trim stalls, it is demonstration-only, and only flight instructor applicants may be required to perform it on a practical test (AFH 5-19). The evaluator selects Task F, G, or H from this group per the Area X note.

Proximity to the ground drives it. A normal recovery usually involves pointing the nose of the airplane toward the ground, and if a stall occurs at low altitude the pilot's natural impulse is to bring the nose up as soon as possible, and to do so abruptly, a reaction that intensifies the closer the ground gets (AFH 5-18).

That is the whole demonstration in one sentence, and it's why you fly it at altitude: to let the student experience the consequence of an instinct they will absolutely have when it matters. The AIH's framing applies: responses to anxiety range from hesitancy to act to the impulse to do something even if it's wrong (AIH 2-12).

Straight from AFH 5-18: a secondary stall may occur after any stall when the pilot:

1. Does not sufficiently reduce the AOA by lowering the pitch attitude, or
2. Attempts to break the stall by using power only.

Both are failures of the same principle: the reduction in AOA is imperative; adding power reduces altitude loss but does not eliminate a stall (AFH 5-15). A student who "recovers" with the throttle has not recovered; they've just made a powered stall.

There's a third path worth demonstrating: errors in flap retraction procedure can cause a secondary stall (AC 61-67C, par. 200e(2)).

1. Clear the area; entry altitude allows completion no lower than 3,000 feet AGL (AI.X.H.S1, S2), double the floor for the ordinary stall tasks, because you are stalling the airplane twice on one entry.
2. Enter a stall in the configuration specified by the evaluator (AI.X.H.S3).
3. Begin a normal recovery, then exceed the critical AOA a second time during the recovery: make the abrupt pull-up deliberately (AI.X.H.S3).

The AFH describes it as: to demonstrate how this occurs at altitude, the pilot makes an abrupt recovery after one stall and exceeds the critical AOA a second time (AFH 5-18).

The same recovery, done properly this time (AFH 5-19):

1. Nose-down elevator pressure as required to eliminate the stall warning.
2. Level the wings with ailerons.
3. Coordinate with rudder.
4. Adjust power as needed.
5. When the airplane is no longer stalled, return to the desired flightpath.

Recover promptly and appropriately after the secondary stall occurs (AI.X.H.S4). AC 61-67C par. 106 says the same thing in one line: appropriate forward pressure or the relaxation of back elevator pressure should again be performed just as in a normal stall recovery; when sufficient airspeed has been regained, return to straight and level.

The message to the student: there is only one stall recovery. If you need it twice, run it twice.

AC 61-67C par. 200f gives two variants worth flying back to back:

1. Have the student fly a full-flap, gear-extended, power-off stall, then recover and attempt to climb with flaps extended. If a higher than normal climb pitch attitude is held, a secondary stall will occur, and the AC notes that in some airplanes a stall will occur if a normal climb pitch attitude is held.
2. Repeat the stall, recover, and retract the flaps rapidly while holding a higher-than-normal climb pitch attitude. A secondary stall or settling with a loss of altitude may result.

Variant 2 is the flap-retraction lesson and connects directly to the go-around accident chain: premature flap retraction is a named causal factor in departure and go-around stall accidents (AC 61-67C, par. 104b).

Describe and demonstrate the conditions that lead to a secondary stall for future avoidance (AI.X.H.S5). Note the verb order: describe first.

Concretely, the student should walk away able to state:

• Hold the nose-down input until the stall warning is eliminated, not until it feels better (AFH 5-21).
• Do not pull up until the airspeed supports it. Trading altitude for airspeed is the price of the recovery, and it is non-negotiable.
• Do not substitute power for AOA reduction (AFH 5-15).
• Retract flaps in stages, in a positive rate of climb, at a normal climb attitude, never all at once while pitching up.

Errors to watch and name:

• Over-doing the second entry: an abrupt, aggressive pull produces an accelerated secondary stall with a sharp break, which teaches fear rather than technique.
• Excessive forward-elevator pressure during either recovery, giving low or negative G load (AFH 5-21).
• Excessive airspeed buildup during the second recovery (AFH 5-21).
• Letting yaw in at either break: a stall plus yaw is a spin (AFH 5-22).
• Recovering from the secondary stall by adding power only: repeating the very error being demonstrated.

Guard rails:

• 3,000 feet AGL floor (AI.X.H.S2); brief the exchange of controls; and if the second break comes with rotation, you are in Task X.I: reduce AOA, neutralize the rudder, and be ready for PARE.
• Environment (AI.X.H.R2): turbulence matters most here, because you're deliberately flying two stalls on one entry with minimum energy in between, and in rough air you should fly the entry with more margin or not fly it at all.
  • A vertical gust or wind shear can cause an abrupt increase in AOA, stalling the airplane at a significantly higher airspeed than in stable conditions, so the second break can arrive earlier and harder than planned, or during the first recovery (AC 61-67C, par. 100l).
  • High density altitude costs climb performance for the recovery and the return to the block.
  • Microburst or strong low-level shear is a reason to postpone the lesson outright.
• Aircraft limitations (AI.X.H.R4): know the airplane before you brief it.
  • Flap and gear limiting speeds for the configuration the evaluator specifies, and the lower design G-load limit that applies with flaps extended (AFH 5-19).
  • The second recovery is where airspeed and load factor build fastest; the listed errors are excessive airspeed buildup and excessive forward-elevator pressure giving low or negative G (AFH 5-21).
  • Confirm the airplane's spin approval and placards; a demonstration that departs into rotation in an airplane placarded against spins has exceeded a limitation, not just a technique standard.

The trick is to make the deliberate error visibly deliberate, so the student learns the error and not the habit:

1. "Clearing turns. Floor is 3,000 AGL. Landing configuration, power idle."
2. "Normal power-off stall. Here's the horn, here's the break."
3. "Now watch. I'm recovering the way you'd want to at 200 feet: nose down for just a moment, then I'm going to pull right back up because the ground is close."
4. "Feel that? Second horn, second break. We were never fast enough."
5. "Recovering properly this time: nose down until it's quiet, and I'm holding it there, wings level, ball centered, power in. Now airspeed's alive. Now I climb."

Then the debrief: "How much altitude did the bad recovery cost compared with the good one?" Give them both numbers.

Fly it immediately after the student is competent at power-off and power-on stall recoveries, and before they solo the pattern. Two reasons:

• Primacy. What is learned first creates a strong, almost unshakable impression, which is why an instructor must teach correctly the first time (AIH 3-13). If a student's first fifty recoveries include a small premature pull, that is the recovery they own.
• Transfer. The secondary stall is the failure mode of the skill they just learned; demonstrating it converts an abstract instruction ("hold the nose down until the warning stops") into a felt consequence: the intensity principle, where dramatic learning connected to a real situation teaches more than a routine one (AIH 3-13).

The AIH also supplies the technique for the anxious student: take the procedure apart and demonstrate each stage, then let them practice the stages in realistic scenarios (AIH 2-9).

They confuse them because both involve a pull and both can break sharply. The distinction:

• Secondary stall: defined by when it happens, after recovery from a preceding stall (AFH 5-18), caused by hastening the recovery before flying speed returns.
• Accelerated stall: defined by how it happens, any time the G-load exceeds +1G (AFH 5-19), reaching critical AOA at a higher indicated airspeed.

They can be the same event. An abrupt secondary pull-up at low airspeed loads the wing and reaches critical AOA quickly, which is why one of the AFH's listed common errors is "inadvertent accelerated stall by pulling too fast on the controls during a power-off or power-on stall entry" (AFH 5-21).

The unifying teaching point, and the one worth repeating in every stall lesson: the wing stalls at an angle, not at a speed (AC 61-67C, par. 100b).