I know the procedures in power-on stalls in a bank. Nevertheless, if I'm performing a power-on stall and one wing begins to drop, I've picked up the bad habit of wanting to use aileron instead of rudder to lift the stalled wing. How can I get over this habit?
Ms. Frustrated
Greetings Ms. Frustrated:
When demonstrating stalls, place your left hand over the center of the control wheel - the point where the wheel meets the control shaft. Let your fingers droop down as if you're holding the top of a big softball. This allows you full use of the elevator control but helps to diminish your attempt at applying aileron to any significant degree during a stall. Of course, this technique only masks the symptoms of the habit. But at least it's a good place to begin solving the problem.
The only practical way to deal with the habit is to practice the proper procedure until the wrong one disappears. Either practice in the airplane or practice it mentally. This is called covert rehearsal, and it's an excellent way to weed out bad flying habits. Sit in a chair, relax, close your eyes, and mentally review the stall recovery procedures while acting them out with hand and foot movements. Of course, if someone walks in and sees foam, boards, and upholstery scattered about the living room, they'll know you used aileron during your imaginary practice.
Partial-Panel Paralysis
Dear Rod:
I unfortunately have failed two checkrides while performing a nonprecision partial-panel approach with a holding procedure. My brain just turned to mush in both instances. In my training prior to and after these events, there has never been a problem in this area. Is this a case of checkride-itis? Do you have any words of wisdom?
Mushman
Dear Mushman:
As you well know, we call it a partial-panel approach because we don't realize how partial we are to all those instruments until some are missing. This is indeed a challenging part of the instrument checkride. The secret solution to your problem is in realizing that there is no secret. If you want to overcome your performance anxiety (and that's what you have), don't look for special cures in nicely worded discussions about encouragement or in coveted mystic techniques that involve incense and planetary orbits.
The solution here is twofold and simple. First, keep doing partial-panel instrument approaches, but do them in such a way that your instructor demands more and more of your performance on each attempt. There should be less and less tolerance for heading, altitude, and course deviations. This should help simulate and acclimate you to the mental pressures similar to what you've experienced on the checkride.
Next, give up the assumption that you must pass this portion of the checkride on your next attempt (I'm assuming that you only need to be rechecked on this area of your performance). As far as you're concerned, if it takes you 10 more attempts to pass the partial-panel, nonprecision holding portion of the checkride, then so be it. There's nothing wrong with wanting something so much that you can't imagine living without it. If, however, your desires sabotage your performance (as they appear to be doing here), then you need to change your level of expectation regarding your performance (which should be to get the rating no matter how many times you have to retake the ride). The sooner you approach the checkride on these terms, the sooner your performance will improve on your next attempt.
Stall Cues And Miscues
Dear Rod,
I am an active CFI. I was wondering how to emphasize power-on stalls with my students. I have always told them that if the airplane is coordinated, i.e., ball in the center, the airplane will not spin. However, I have noticed that on some airplanes, like the Cessna 172, keeping the ball in the center just before a stall doesn't control the nose very well and a wing usually drops during the stall.
I have discovered that emphasizing keeping the nose straight (even if the ball is a little out of whack) produces a much cleaner stall and recovery allowing the nose to fall straight down. Which is correct?
Thank you.
Greetings:
You are correct in your assumption that keeping the nose pointing straight ahead in a stall (assuming you're doing stalls straight ahead and not in turns) will give the airplane the best chance of allowing both wings to stall at the same time. It's possible that your turn coordinator is twisted a bit, causing the ball in the inclinometer to roll out of its center position. This would provide an erroneous reading in flight and result in one wing stalling before the other despite the ball's being centered. I remember seeing this in one of our training airplanes years ago while sitting in the runup area with a student. I pointed this out to my student, then mentioned that he'd need to do work on his coordination since he couldn't even keep the ball centered while parked.
On the other hand, you can't keep the nose pointed straight when doing stalls from a turn. Without use of the inclinometer's ball, there is still a way to tell if the airplane is coordinated in a turn - the differential pressure on the seat of your pants will tell you. You can look at the nose and try to determine if it's pointed properly in the direction of turn. Normally, experienced pilots use both cues to make this determination. This is what allows a pilot to do a stall while in a turn and have both wings stall simultaneously.
Spin Training For All?
Dear Rod:
I received my private certificate last fall and had to ask my instructor to show me how to recover from a spin. Why isn't this training standard for all pilots? I feel that a lesson in spin recovery could potentially save lives. My instructor just said it was too dangerous. Is that really the case?
Daniel
Greetings Daniel:
Many years ago spin entry and recovery was taught to all private pilots. Unfortunately, quite a few people managed to corkscrew themselves into the ground as a result. They did so for two basic reasons: unqualified instructors at the helm or the wrong airplanes were used for the training. I can assure you that with a qualified instructor and the proper airplane, spin instruction isn't dangerous. If it were, then you could make the case that the FAA requires CFI applicants to do dangerous things since spins are required for CFI certification. It's reasonable to assume that the FAA isn't in the business of requiring pilots to do dangerous things.
There are CFIs who feel that spin training isn't necessary to fly safely. These CFIs often say that stall or spin recognition is sufficient education for a pilot. After all, you must stall before you can spin. Prevent the stall and you prevent the spin. The only problem with this is that it doesn't diminish a pilot's anxiety about spins. For many pilots, they must experience the spin and learn to tame it before they can fly relaxed. That's why I recommend that you find yourself a qualified CFI and take some spin recovery instruction. In my opinion it's one of the best training investments you'll make in aviation. It can be fun, too.
Rod Machado is a flight instructor, author, educator, and speaker. A pilot for 32 years and a CFI for 28, he has flown more than 8,000 hours and owns a Beech A36 Bonanza. Visit his Web site ( www.rodmachado.com ).
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