User Guide

Learning To Fly with Rod Machado
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7
Departure Stalls
What happens if you stall with full power already applied? Let’s say that you’ve just lifted off from an
airport and are climbing with full power (as you normally do in this airplane). Suddenly you find a big
bumblebee in the cockpit. You’re distracted and forget to fly the airplane as you swat the critter with
both hands. Of course, all your flailing in the air makes the cockpit look like the set of a Kung Fu
movie as the airplane stalls. What do you do?
Well, Grasshopper, all the Kung Fu in the world won’t help you now unless you do one thing: reduce
the wing’s angle of attack to less than its critical value. Once the airplane is no longer stalled, you
can recover back to climbing attitude. Don’t worry about touching the throttle since full power is
already applied.
Here’s how we’ll do it.
Departure Stall Sequence
1. Press Ctrl+; to reset the simulation and press Z and then Ctrl+V to activate only the autopilot’s
wing leveler.
2. Press P to activate the simulation.
3. Establish a climb at 70 knots with full power. Make sure you trim for this condition.
4. Raise the nose high enough to exceed the critical angle of attack. This simulates the attitude the
airplane may default to when you’re distracted.
You’ll know when the airplane stalls because the stall horn activates, the word STALL appears,
and the airplane begins to pitch forward.
5. Recover from the stall by lowering the nose sufficiently to decrease the angle of attack.
6. When the airplane is no longer stalled, raise the nose and resume your climb. Be sure to avoid a
secondary stall by not raising the nose too fast or raising it beyond a normal climb attitude.
7. Press P to pause the simulation when finished.