Barkly1992

When I was learing to fly (or should I say being taught how to handle an aircraft?) back in the dark ages (1978-79) I soon learned that flight manuals were being written by the corporate legal areas of the manufacturers.

The flight manual for the PA28-161 said on the chapter on stalls that (something along the lines of) "During practice stalls, there is a possibilty that the engine will stop. Recovery: Break the stall; nose down, wings level and try to re-start the engine by use of the ignition system. If this fails nose down; to 130 knots windmilling the propellor. If this fails - SEE CHAPTER 8 - EMERGENCY LANDINGS.

BTW I never had an engine stop during practice stalls in either single or twin engine aircraft EVER.

Shaggy Sheep Driver

I like the legally-required dymo-taped label in our Chipmunk:

'Spin recovery may require full forward stick. See also flight manual'.

This is because in Chippys, after about 5 turns, the spin can go flat. To get the nose down to un-stall the wings may require the stick to be pushed fully forward (standard spin recovery is: throttle closed, ailerons neutral, full opposite rudder, stick forward until the spin stops, recover to level flight). On the Chippy, the stick goes forward OK until the air loads bring it to an apparent stop, which pilots can mistake as the fully-forward position. You have to push through that 'false stop' to the actual mechanical forward stop - it's that last push that actually un-stalls the aeroplane.

But it always brings to my mind a vision of some poor chap spinning earthwards despite un-spin contro, inputs, and frantically leafing through the flight manual!

chuks

From what I know about aviation they should have a warning label for the cockpit that reads: CAUTION! May contain nuts! That would about cover it.