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Old 8th Jan 2003, 15:53
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slim_slag
 
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dublinpilot

The problem with a stall is timing it right, as all you could end up doing is convert a lot of your horizontal speed to vertical speed. These light aircraft are better at handling and dissipating forces in the horizontal direction than the vertical, as is the human body when seated. You also still have horizontal speed in a stall.

There is a theory that if you are over a forest with an engine out, you should stall just above the tree tops and gently drop in. The other theory is that you should aim between two trees just abve the ground and let the wings take the force of impact, dissipating the forces as they get ripped off. Haven't seen many trials to provide any evidence of which is better, but I'd go for the latter. Aiming for flimsy walls is also said to be a good thing, if you can come to zero speed over a few tens of feet you should survive. Put some numbers into those Newtonian equations we all learned for O level physics and you can prove the point theoretically.
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