Anthony 2107
Perhaps a bit off topic, but I am genuinely curious to know why you were so interested in “stalling speed” because it is a number that has no significance unless you also know many other things about the aircraft’s circumstances.
Forgive me if I seem to be nitpicking, but an aircraft “stalls” only because its wing is flown at an angle of attack (AOA) that exceeds a certain number. This ANGLE is broadly the difference between where the nose seems to be pointed - looking side on - and the direction in which the aircraft is travelling. That ANGLE, which is unique for any aircraft type but does vary slightly between types, will usually be in the range 14 to 18 degrees for “ordinary” looking aircraft. Some slender deltas and other special configurations might be happy to go into the mid 20s. The stalling angle will only change slightly to another fixed value when leading or trailing edge flap positions are changed.
The speed at which this stalling angle is reached (your stalling speed) will depend (to varying degrees) on the weight, the bank angle being flown, the g being applied, the atmosphere (density/temp) the thrust in use and the position of the centre of gravity to mention some of the more obvious factors.
Indeed from a pilots point of view it would be harder to pick a single bit of data that had a more tenuous connection with when a wing actually stalls than the airspeed that happens to be on the airspeed indicator at the time.
From which you will see I think the term “stalling speed” is a rather meaningless abomination.
Only human pilots still use the idea of a stalling speed. All automatics like the autoplilot, the autoland system, fly by wire control systems and (yes!) the stall warning systems and stall recovery systems all measure the AOA to decide how to go about their business. Quaint eh?
But then I expect you knew all that – in which case sorry!
JF