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Old 17th Apr 2005, 20:26
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QNH 1013
 
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: England
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I find it difficult to see how any aircraft I have flown could be stalled during the landing. As several people have pointed out, the stall occurs at the critical angle of attack, and all the tailwheel aircraft I fly sit on the ground at much smaller angle of incidence. Now, angle of attack depends on the direction of the airflow past the wing, but during the landing (i.e. in ground effect) it is difficult to see how this will be significantly different from horizontal unless the aircraft is decending very rapidly, certainly not something it should be doing in the flare.

I believe it was Alan Bramson who measured the angle of incidence (wing) of lots of tailwheel aircraft when they were on the ground, and concluded that the Dragon Rapide was one of the few that could be stalled in the three-point attitude.

I haven't tried pushing the tail of a Cessna 150 down to the floor to see if it could reach the critical angle of attack in an extreme nose-high landing, but I don't teach people to land at such an extreme angle anyway. As far as I can see, when I land an aircraft it is not stalled, and I don't want it to be.

Just think of the angle of the nose of the aircraft to the horizon when you practice a normal (1g) stall. You won't see the nose at anything like that angle to the horizontal when you are landing (I hope).

NB. I know purists will point out that the angle of incidence really refers to the angle of the wing wrt the aircraft, but in the above context I am using it wrt the ground for simplicity.
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