When performed in a safe and controlled environment, stalls are a blast! But being caught off guard by an inadvertent stall can be a terrifying and dangerous experience. That’s why stall training is such an important part of the private pilot syllabus. But students are only trained in the methods of stall entry and recovery, and are left unaware as to the most high-risk phases of flight.

Jason Schappert the flight instructor at M0A.com took the time to outline the three points where inadvertent stalls are most common:

1. Base to final
2. After takeoff on climb out
3. In the landing flare

Number one and two may seem obvious, but I find high-risk area number three intriguing. After fourteen years of flying, I’ve never had a good discussion on the landing flare stall. Why is that?

It’s not like this is an uncommon cause for accidents. I recall seeing an airplane with it’s struts physically pushed through the wings after landing. The pilot had over flared, leading to a stall followed by a very hard landing (or perhaps a soft impact).

It’s surprising that landing flare stalls don’t happen more often. This is the time where the pilot’s eyes are completely transitioned outside of the airplane. We have to rely on visual (outside) and tactile cues during those final moments before touchdown, and if the airspeed bleeds away there is little to no warning that something bad is about to happen.

This is precisely why it’s important to know your airplane. When that “stall mush” begins to dominate the flight controls, it’s time to do something about it. If that includes a go-around, then so be it.

Like all ground reference maneuvers, S-turns are practiced to cement the fundamentals of aircraft control. The goal is to develop aircraft control coordination by flying the aircraft along a precise ground track at a constant altitude. Although rarely perfect on the first try, the maneuver is actually quite easy as long as you know what to look for.

In an S-turn, the goal is to fly two equally sized half-circles. In a no-wind condition, the maneuver is theoretically pointless. You could arbitrarily pick a bank angle and turn 180º left, then do it again to the right. But that defeats the point.

We’re supposed to be learning about wind drift, division of attention, and all sorts of pilot-y things like that. So it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that your flight instructor will pick only the windiest days to practice S-turns.

Because of wind drift, we have to constantly change bank angle throughout the maneuver. This is where it gets tricky. Let’s break it down into seven simple steps:

Step 1: Choose a road or other straight line that is perpendicular to the wind as your primary ground reference. Maneuver to cross the road at 600′-1000′ AGL on the downwind.

Step 2: Roll into a steep (40º-45°) left turn as you cross the road. As you turn crosswind, you will lose groundspeed due to the decreasing tailwind component. Compensate by decreasing bank angle as needed.

Step 3: Continue the turn and gradually decrease bank angle. This will be the shallowest bank of the first 180º turn.

Step 4: Roll out to wings level while crossing the road. Enter a shallow bank right turn and gradually increase bank angle.

Step 5: Continue the turn while slowly increasing bank angle to 40°-45°.

Step 6: Cross the perpendicular to the road on the maneuver’s entry heading with wings level.

Step 7: Retrim for level flight as needed and accomplish any necessary post maneuver checklists.

Although the seven steps sound pretty complicated, relax: the S-turn is a snap if you know one little secret: pick multiple ground references. As you approach the maneuver entry point, scope out the surrounding landscape and “trace” your intended flight path.

Visualize the desired ground track out the window and pick out a few landmarks as extra references.  Fly to the swimming pool here, go over the red barn there, pass between the two trees, then wings level over the road. At this point, it’s as easy as playing Connect the Dots with an airplane!

This is a required maneuver for the Private Pilot checkride. The Private Pilot Practical Test Standards (PTS) require an altitude of +/- 100′ and airspeed +/- 10 knots along with adequate wind-drift correction to maintain constant radius turns.

Going through private pilot training, I was taught to trim the airplane for all phases of flight. After fighting the controls for one too many flights, the lesson took. Like most students, I was also told to trim the airplane for steep turns. Although trim makes the turn much easier, I suggest that you try steep turns without adjusting the trim wheel.

Most pilots mess up the steep turn at the entry or completion of the maneuver. They either start out with too much or too little pitch. This isn’t  a serious problem, and it tends to work itself out with experience. At the end of a steep turn, pilots tend to climb well above entry altitude. In most cases the culprit is the trim.

You see, by trimming the airplane for a steep turn, you are actually trimming for a nose-high attitude. Once the wings are level, you have to fight the airplane to maintain level pitch-attitude until the trim can be taken out.

Pilots should not trim for steep turns. The maneuver becomes much simpler: Roll in and stick the nose in the right spot. Hold the controls steady. Roll out on heading and pitch level.

Since the airplane was trimmed for level cruise flight before the maneuver, the airplane ought to settle in to level cruise quite comfortably at the completion of your steep turns.

Pilots have some sort of machismo complex when it comes to making a smooth landing. I know it feels good to grease it right on the money. Not to mention that the landing leaves a lasting impression on each and every passenger. But a smooth landing is secondary to the primary goal of landing the airplane safely. Gusty winds and high crosswind components can quickly turn a beautiful flare into a scary situation. Best to err on the conservative side: just plant it! 

Sideloads are put on the airplane by landing in a crab (sideways). Pilots are trained to correct for this by entering a slip and landing one wheel at a time. The problem is that many airplanes start to get squirley on roundout in a crosswind. Control pressures are constantly changing, and the wind can quickly become too much to handle. You suddenly find yourself being blown sideways across the runway, which increases the chances of landing with a high sideload, or worse: getting blown into the ditch!

You can work to prevent a dangerous situation by doing your best to get the airplane down. Don’t try to make it pretty, just stick the airplane on the ground and accept a harder-than-normal landing. Don’t misunderstand me, I’m not telling you to fly nose-first into the runway. That would be a bad thing. Just don’t “milk it” and aim for that satisfying “chirp-chirp” of the mains in a blustery wind.

From the early days of instrument training, we are taught to expect to go missed at the conclusion of an instrument approach. I think we all understand why: the point is not to get too cocky, and to remind yourself that minimums are just that: minimums. Point well taken, but when things get real are you actually prepared to fly the missed approach?

To do all of this on the fly is to ask for trouble. Instead, plan ahead for the missed approach. Professional pilots make this part of a complete “approach briefing,” and it’s a good idea for private pilots to do the same.

During your initial approach preparation, take a good look at the published missed approach procedure. Get familiar with the chart and compute your holding pattern entry. Check out my post on Holding Patterns Entries Made Easy, it should help.

During the final segment of your approach, take a quick peek at your chart and memorize the first step of the missed approach. Usually this is just a heading and an altitude. Now would be a good time to set any altitude or heading bugs as a friendly reminder.

If you do get behind the airplane on an actual missed (hey, it happens!) do not just wing it! Confess your situation to the tower and ask for a vector and altitude. Remember: safety is the name of the game here. Contrary to popular belief, controllers do not carry pitchforks. They are there to help so ask for it if you need it.

I’m sure all of you IFR types know the drill. ATC assigns you a holding pattern and it is up to you to enter that hold in one of three ways: parallel, direct, or teardrop. Which entry do you choose? Well it all depends upon your intercept angle with the holding pattern… or something like that. Truth be told, I have no idea! But wait, how can you fly a holding pattern if you can’t do the mental math to compute your entry? It’s quite simple really: I do it visually.

Holding Pattern

That’s right, I barely even think about my entry. I just visualize the holding pattern, look at it, and visualize the appropriate entry. It’s quite simple really, lets look at a typical holding pattern. There are three possible holding pattern entries, all of which depend on where our airplane will be after crossing the holding fix. The trick is to remember three simple rules; after passing the fix, if the airplane is:

1. Inside the hold, perform a teardrop entry.
   Given the hold in the picture, if we approach the holding fix from the Northwest, then our airplane will be inside of the holding pattern (between the inbound and outbound legs).
2. Outside the hold, perform a parallel entry.
   Again, look at the picture, if we arrive from the East, the airplane will be outside of the holding pattern. We must turn to our outbound heading (180 in this case) and begin a parallel entry.
3. With the hold, perform a direct entry.
   This is the no-brainer. If you are heading in the same general direction as the inbound leg, just make that initial (in this case right) turn and fly the outbound leg.

This method sure beats doing a bunch of mental math whilst flying an airplane, and seriously reduces the chance of error. It is worth nothing that air traffic controllers don’t really care what kind of entry you make, so long as the airplane remains on the safe side (that’s the same side as the outbound leg). If you get all garbled up, just stick to the safe side and make it work!

I know holding patterns are a very abstract concept and can be difficult to envision. Please comment on this post if you need clarification on visually computing holding pattern entries.

When operating into controlled airports, tower will occasionally ask you to maintain “best forward airpseed” with your landing clearance. This is especially common for pilots of slower piston-engine airplanes. As common as this request is, it is not required (and rarely covered) by the flight training curriculum.

ATC will ask for best speed on final in an attempt to expedite arrivals and maintain spacing. As a pilot, this means that there is something coming in behind you. Quickly. These fast-movers tend to come in two varieties: turboprops have a final approach speed between 100 to 120 knots, and jets, with an approach speed of 130 to 160 knots.

Keep in mind that “best forward airspeed” is not a mandate, but a request. If in the judgement of the PIC, a faster than normal approach will compromise safety, it is the pilot’s responsibility to notify ATC that he/she is unable to comply. Bear in mind that you may be vectored and resequenced behind the faster aircraft. At no time should a pilot feel obligated to compromise safety in order to “help out” air traffic controllers. It’s your butt on the line! That being said, maintaining best forward airspeed on final is a perfectly safe maneuver provided the pilot plans accordingly.

My Best Forward Airspeed Approach Technique:

1. Delay the use of flaps / gear
2. Maintain a high power setting
3. One mile final:
   1. Gear: Down (if applicable)
   2. Slow to maximum flap extension speed (top of the white arc)
4. Crossing the airport boundary:
   1. Throttle: Idle
   2. Flaps: Full

Due to excess airspeed, the airplane will have a tendency to float. Level off above the runway and fly the airplane until it is ready to land. Know that the approach and landing technique will vary from airplane to airplane. Consult an instructor for specific information regarding your airplane.

After landing, quickly clear the active runway by turning off at the next available taxiway. If there is some distance to be covered, it may be prudent to delay braking until just prior to reaching a runway turnoff. See my article on planning your after-landing taxi route.

A Word On Safety

Best forward airspeed on final approach is a bit of a contradiction. The pilot is being asked to speed up at the one time when it is critical to slow down. This is perfectly safe, so long as you always respect your personal minimums and aircraft limitations.

I strongly suggest that you practice a few best forward airspeed approaches at your local airport to elevate your comfort level with a faster than normal approach. This is also helpful in understanding the drag charactersitics of your airplane. It may be prudent to take a CFI along to learn any airplane-specific tricks.

Related Links

Forum discussion on best forward speed.
Blog entry about planning your after-landing taxi route.