King Schools now offers an Icing Operations online course that trains pilots to recognize and react to tailplane stalls. Tailplane icing can occur when ice accretes on the leading edges of a horizontal stabilizer or stabilator. The result is a loss of the tailplane’s “negative lift,” which is necessary to counterbalance the lift produced by the wings.
John King, co-chairman of King Schools, says, “There is the remarkable fact that the recovery from a tailplane stall induced by icing requires a completely opposite technique from recovering from a wing stall.”
Martha King, the other King Schools co-chairman, adds, “Everybody knows that recovering from a wing stall requires application of forward stick to lower the nose and reduce the angle of attack of the wing. On the other hand, recovering from an icing-induced tail stall is completely counter-intuitive. It requires applying aft stick pressure…adding to the difficulty is that the mere presence of icing conditions seems to distract pilots so that they forget the basics.”
Another problem, says John King, is that it is extremely difficult to tell the difference between a tailpane and a wing stall. The Kings say that it’s clear that pilots need help when dealing with icing conditions. That’s why they’ve revised their Icing Operations online course to beef up the section on tailplane stall recognition and recovery. Cost of the course is $249.
For more information, visit the Web site or call 800/854-1001.
Related Articles
