Stall Recovery: What Happens Aerodynamically and How to Recover

Every pilot learns stall recovery, but understanding what actually happens aerodynamically during a stall transforms memorized procedures into genuine skill. When you understand why the wing stalls and why the recovery techniques work, you can handle stalls in any configuration or attitude.

The Aerodynamics of Normal Flight

To understand stalls, first understand normal lift production. Wings generate lift through a pressure differential: lower pressure above the wing, higher pressure below. This differential results from the wing’s angle of attack—the angle between the chord line and the relative wind.

As angle of attack increases, lift increases. This relationship holds until the critical angle of attack, typically around 15-20 degrees for most general aviation wings. Beyond this angle, the smooth airflow over the wing separates from the upper surface, lift decreases dramatically, and the wing stalls.

What Happens at the Stall

At the critical angle of attack, the smooth (laminar) flow over the wing can no longer follow the upper surface curvature. The boundary layer separates, creating turbulent, low-energy flow over much of the wing. This transition happens relatively suddenly.

Lift Reduction

When the airflow separates, lift production decreases by 20-40%. The wing still produces some lift beyond the stall, but not enough to sustain controlled flight. The aircraft begins to descend, often with a distinct nose-down pitch.

Drag Increase

The separated, turbulent flow creates dramatically increased drag. This is why stalled aircraft descend rapidly—both reduced lift and increased drag work together to accelerate the descent.

Control Degradation

Control surfaces immersed in separated flow lose effectiveness. Aileron response may become sluggish or reversed due to adverse yaw effects becoming dominant. Elevator effectiveness decreases. The aircraft becomes less responsive to control inputs just when the pilot most needs control.

The Stall Warning

Most aircraft provide stall warning through aerodynamic or mechanical means. Aerodynamic stall warning includes buffet—vibration caused by turbulent flow striking the tail surfaces—and pre-stall pitch changes. Mechanical stall warning includes horns or lights triggered by angle of attack indicators.

These warnings provide time for recovery before the full stall develops. Recognizing and responding to stall warning is the first line of defense. The goal is never reaching the stall in normal operations—recovering at the warning.

Stall Recovery Procedure

Recovery from a stall requires reducing the angle of attack below the critical angle. The standard recovery accomplishes this directly.

Reduce Angle of Attack

The primary recovery action is pitching nose-down. This directly reduces angle of attack, allowing the airflow to reattach and lift to resume. The pitch reduction must be sufficient to break the stall—a slight pitch change may not be enough if the stall is fully developed.

Don’t fixate on pitching to a specific attitude. The amount of pitch-down required depends on the aircraft’s attitude when the stall occurred. A stall from a level attitude requires less pitch change than a stall from a climbing attitude.

Power Management

Adding power helps recovery by accelerating the aircraft and by providing a component of thrust that assists pitch-up attitude. In power-on stalls where high power already exists, power may need reduction to aid recovery. In power-off stalls, adding full power aids recovery.

The critical concept: power alone doesn’t recover from a stall. Reducing angle of attack is essential. Power supplements pitch control but doesn’t replace it.

Wings Level

Use coordinated rudder and aileron to level the wings. If one wing drops at the stall, use rudder toward the high wing to level. Aileron use at or near the stall can be problematic—the downward-deflected aileron on the low wing increases that wing’s angle of attack, potentially deepening its stall.

The ACS permits use of coordinated aileron and rudder for wing leveling, recognizing that modern techniques and aircraft have evolved. However, awareness of adverse aileron effects near the stall remains important.

Return to Normal Flight

Once angle of attack is reduced and the stall is broken, smoothly return to coordinated flight at the desired attitude. Recover lost altitude if necessary. The recovery is complete when the aircraft is under positive control at a safe airspeed.

Stall Characteristics by Configuration

Different configurations produce different stall behaviors. Understanding these differences helps predict and manage stalls in various phases of flight.

Clean Configuration

Stalls in clean configuration (flaps and gear retracted) occur at the highest airspeed for a given weight. The stall break is typically gradual with relatively docile handling characteristics. Recovery requires the most altitude because of the higher speed involved.

Approach Configuration

With flaps extended and gear down, the aircraft stalls at a lower airspeed. The stall break may be sharper due to different airflow patterns over the wing and flaps. Pitch-down tendency at the stall may be more pronounced.

Power Effects

Power-on stalls occur at lower airspeeds than power-off stalls because thrust supports part of the aircraft’s weight. However, power-on stalls may produce more dramatic wing drop due to propeller effects increasing asymmetric lift tendencies.

Accelerated Stalls

Stalls can occur at any airspeed if the critical angle of attack is exceeded. In maneuvering flight—steep turns, abrupt pullups, aggressive maneuvering—load factor increases, raising the stall speed. An aircraft that stalls at 50 knots in level flight stalls at 60 knots in a 45-degree bank turn (1.4 G) and at 70 knots in a 60-degree bank turn (2 G).

Accelerated stalls typically occur with less warning and break more abruptly than one-G stalls. Recovery requires the same angle of attack reduction but starts from a higher airspeed and potentially unusual attitude.

Spins: When Stalls Go Wrong

A spin develops when a stalled wing experiences asymmetric lift—one wing more deeply stalled than the other. The more-stalled wing drops, creating a yaw and roll that perpetuates the asymmetry. The aircraft rotates around a vertical axis while descending steeply.

Spin entry requires a stall plus yaw (often from uncoordinated flight). Spin avoidance thus involves either not stalling or maintaining coordination if a stall occurs. Most training aircraft are designed to resist spin entry, but the possibility always exists.

Spin recovery uses the mnemonic PARE: Power idle, Ailerons neutral, Rudder opposite the spin direction, Elevator forward. These actions stop the rotation and break the stall. Specific aircraft may have additional or modified procedures—know your aircraft’s requirements.

Training Beyond Minimum

Checkride stall demonstrations typically occur in controlled conditions at altitude with advance planning. Real stalls happen unexpectedly, in unusual attitudes, near the ground. Training should include recognition of approaching stalls in various attitudes, recovery from stall warning at minimum altitude loss, and stalls in climbing and turning configurations.

Upset recovery training, available at specialized schools, extends stall training to include extreme attitudes and unusual scenarios. This training builds confidence and capability beyond basic stall recovery.

Prevention Remains Primary

While stall recovery skill is essential, stall prevention is the goal. Maintain appropriate airspeeds for each phase of flight. Use proper technique in the traffic pattern. Respect weight and balance limits. Monitor trim to avoid surprise pitch changes. Most accidental stalls result from distraction or poor energy management—both preventable with discipline and awareness.

Understand the aerodynamics. Practice recovery until it’s reflexive. Then fly so that recovery is never needed outside of training. That’s the mark of a skilled pilot.