Nashville CFI


Slow Flight


Slow flight is described as flight at the minimum controllable airspeed of an aircraft. When done properly, the airplane will be in a state of equilibrium between its three primary sources of energy: engine power, altitude, and airspeed.



In a Cessna 172, try it like this:


Stalls


So what happens if we try to go slower than "slow" flight? You will stall the aircraft. Now, that's not the terribly scary-sounding word you hear about aircraft in the media. It simply means that one or more of the airfoils on the aircraft stops producing lift (or produces less of it).

A stall will be characterized by:
More accurately, a stall occurs when an airfoil exceeds its "critical angle of attack". The angle of attack is the angle between the chord line of the wing and the relative wind. See below.



Power Off Stalls




In a Cessna 172 try:

Power On Stalls




In a Cessna 172 try this:

Stall Speed vs Angle of Bank


Of course, we also need to be aware that the stall speed of an airplane is a function of the load factor on the aircraft. The higher the load factor, the higher the stall speed.

When does load factor increase? When you pull back on the stick, and/or when you turn. See below for stall speeds of a airplane in various angle of bank:



Common Mistakes



ACS Testing Objectives


Pilot exibits knowledge of stalls and their recovery. Standards: