Exercise 10
DEFINITION – STALLING
A condition of flight where the angle between the wing and the
relative airflow exceeds the critical angle of attack, causing the
airflow over the top surface of the wing to break away resulting
in a loss of lift, a loss of altitude and pitching moment
BRIEFING OUTLINE
Aerodynamic principles – Bernoulli's theory, lift formula
How a stall occurs and symptoms of the stall
How to recover from the stall (with minimum height loss)
WHY IS IT BEING TAUGHT ?
Stalling is an undesirable condition
It is very important to recognize the conditions and situations
that can cause a stall, so as to avoid them
If a stall does occur the pilot must know how to recover
Ex 10 - Def
Stalling – Basic definitions
Vertical
component
LIFT
Cho TOTAL REACTION
rd Line
ANGLE of
Horizontal
ATTACK Drag component
RELATIVE
AIRFLOW
CL is determined by wing shape and Angle of Attack
R/Ex 4.2.1 i-ii
Lift Formula
2
Lift = CL ½ Rho V S
AoA
Wing Shape Air Density (Rho) Speed Wing
Angle of Attack (velocity sq) Surface
Ex 4.2
Stalling – Airflow over the wing
Velocity increasing Velocity decreasing
Pressure decreasing
L Pressure increasing
Adverse
Pressure
gradient
Laminar flow Turbulent flow
D
RAF
Transition Separation Flow
= boundary layer point point reversal
Stalling – Movement of CP
As the angle of attack increases
The Centre of Pressure (CP)
Moves forward
As the critical angle of attack
Is reached, the CP moves
rapidly rearwards
The rearward movement of the
CP and the marked loss of lift
At the stall will cause the aircraft
to pitch nose-down
A Stall can happen at
o
any airspeed or 15
configuration, weight, 1.4
but at a constant AOA
o
(16 ) Min. speed
1.2 For S/L flight
1.0
Lift Coefficient (CL)
Stalling angle
0.8
0.6
An increase 0.4
in angle of
attack will lead Max. speed
to an increase 0.2 For S/L flight
in lift until the
0
critical or o o o o o o o
stalling angle -4 0 4 8 12 16 18
is reached
Angle of Attack (AoA)
Ex 6.2.2
Typical scenarios where a stall can happen
- Low Airspeed
- High nose attitude
70 80
Landing Takeoff
Basic stalling speeds
Can be found in POH VS0 – bottom of
or read from the ASI white arc
Basic stalling speed
with power off in
landing configuration
VS1- bottom of
green arc
Basic stalling speed
with power off in
clean configuration
These speeds are only valid in a very specific
Set of circumstances. Remember that the
Aircraft WILL stall, whatever the airspeed,
If the critical angle of attack is exceeded
Ex 10
Stalling – Symptoms of the impending stall
Reducing airspeed and air noise level
Decreasing control effectiveness and “sloppy” feel
Stall warning goes off
Onset of buffet felt in the airframe and through the control column
A high nose attitude
Ex 10
Recovery from the stall
• Release back pressure to un-stall the wings
• Correct yaw or roll with opposite rudder, do
NOT use ailerons
• Apply full power
• Increase speed to climb speed
• Climb away
Stalling – Effect of weight / CofG location
Lift 2300 lbs
Lift 2000 lbs
The greater the weight
The greater the AoA
At a given airspeed
Therefore the critical
AoA 4 o AoA 6 o AoA is reached at a
higher airspeed by a
Heavy aircraft
Weight 2000 lbs
Weight 2300 lbs
Forward centre of gravity Rear center of gravity
Nose down moment can be violent Will spin more easily, recovery can be
Stall speed increased more difficult
Stall speed decreased
STALLING – TURNING AND LOAD FACTOR
Vertical component
of lift
LIFT
Shortfall of lift
o o
S+L 60 60 Horizontal
component
of lift
WEIGHT
Angle of attack Result:
increased progressively 2 x lift to balance
to maintain S + L weight
Stalling – Effect of manoeuvres
o
Wings level 75 Angle of bank
Level turn
Stall airspeed 45 Knots
Stall airspeed 90 Knots
When the aircraft is turning, the load factor
Is increased. The steeper the angle of bank
In the turn, the greater the load factor.
o
At around 75 angle of bank in a level turn
The load factor is 4 (or 4 G’s) and the stall
Speed is doubled.
Stalling – Effect of aircraft configuration
Flaps – the aircraft will still stall
at a lower critical angle, however
with flaps extended the nose attitude
will be lower and stall speed will be less
Lowering the flaps alters the lift distribution across the wingspan and makes a
wing drop at the stall more likely
Advanced Stalling – Washout / Root spoilers / Slats / Slots
Washout means that the
aircraft wings are twisted in
such a way that the wing
roots will reach the stalling
angle before the wingtips
to prevent wing tip stalling
and keep the ailerons effective
Root spoilers, slats and slots
are other devices which are all
designed to improve lift and Leading edge slat
prevent the onset of
wingtip stalling
Slot
High Speed stalling
Attempted High-G pullout, airflow still kts
0
separates from the wing, resulting in 12
high speed stall
More drag will cause yaw,
More lift will cause roll,
Advanced Stalling – Autorotation increasing roll rate
increasing rotation
Flying Stalled
LIFT
Autorotation is
the start of a
spin
DRAG
CL
Angle of attack
