IFR Checkride Guide
Chair flying / Unusual Attitude Recovery: Nose High

Unusual Attitude Recovery: Nose High

Recognize and recover from a nose-high, decaying-airspeed attitude by instruments: power, pitch, roll in the right order, before the stall.

Guided rehearsal is PremiumACS IV.B: Recovery from Unusual Flight Attitudes

Setup

  1. Recognize: airspeed decreasing, altimeter increasing, VSI up, attitude nose high
    Confirm across instruments before acting; a failed attitude indicator can lie. Airspeed trend + altimeter trend agree on the real attitude.

Execution

  1. POWER: full“Power”
  2. PITCH: forward to reduce the angle of attack“Pitch forward”
    Reduce AOA before the stall; smooth forward pressure, not a shove.
  3. ROLL: wings level with coordinated aileron and rudder“Roll level”

Recovery

  1. Airspeed alive and increasing: level flight attitude, set cruise power
  2. Return to the assigned heading and altitude; resume the scan

ACS tolerances

  • Correct sequence: power, pitch, roll (nose high)
  • Smooth, positive control inputs without secondary stall

Common errors

  • Rolling before reducing the angle of attack
  • Recovering from the airplane you *feel*, not the instruments; vestibular illusions lie
  • Abrupt forward pressure causing negative G and disorientation
  • Fixating on one instrument instead of confirming with the full panel