As our colleague, LeftHeadingNorth, has said “there are no such exact thrust lever positions on any jet as each situation is different." It might be logical to recall that all pilots (at one point in their career) are required to demonstrate satisfactory recoveries from a stall … including glider pilots … but, significantly, glider pilots don’t get to play with things called “throttles.” Hopefully without sounding “overly critical’ or “way too basic,” we should all recognize it is airplane attitude that is (or at least should be…) the critical issue to address in the recovery from a stall. Going back to the days preceding simulators, when all airplane training was accomplished in the airplane, and looking specifically at training stalls on larger, transport category airplanes … particularly those with those “new-fangled” jet engines – almost always mounted under the swept wings, actually taking the airplane into a stall was something that instructors were very cautious about doing - (been there – done that) – and once it was recognized that the appropriate corrective actions to take to recover from an aerodynamic stall would be the exact same corrective actions to take to recover from an “approach to stall.” The altitudes used for this training was almost always between 12,000 and 17,000 feet … because no one wanted to take the airplane into the more rarified, higher altitudes above 17,000 feet (and it also avoided the Positive Controlled Airspace that was becoming the domain of these jet-powered machines and guarded – almost selfishly – by Air Traffic Control. Of course the lower boundary was chosen because of the fact that students were still involved, and doing this training and practice at altitudes that would minimize the amount of time available to actually recover the airplane if it got to a critical point and the student really “did a number” on the training task, was something that made a lot of sense … by providing adequate time for the instructor to still recover the airplane should that become necessary. By going only to the point where the approaching stall was more easily recognized – the approach to the stall – the significantly more problematic condition (actually stalling the airplane) could be avoided … without denying the student the opportunity to see the results of the application of those proper recovery procedures. Also as indicated by our colleague, WhyByFlier, actually stalling an airplane at a truly high altitude presents a whole new set of issues that must be dealt with as well. Also, as our colleague, Tee Emm, said in his post “I would have thought that an approach to stall and recovery would be more realistic and demanding of greater skill if conducted below 1000 ft on final approach.” Of course doing this in an airplane is completely out of the question – at least it is for all the instructors I know who teach in transport category jet airplanes. Of course, suffering an airplane crash is not the goal of any pilot I know. The most immediate alternative – for either circumstance, is clearly the proper and competent use of a properly designed, properly developed, properly built, and properly evaluated airplane flight simulator. Unfortunately, the aviation training industry used flight simulators JUST EXACTLY like we treated the airplane … i.e., stall training was limited to Approach to Stall, and the altitudes used for this training were the same 12,000 to 17,000 feet. Which is a subject for a whole different set of posts … which I’ll avoid putting all of you through today. However, it is true that we now have a more realistic attitude toward the use of simulation … and that includes stall training. However, even though the use of flight simulators has long-been the accepted norm, we are just getting to the point of understanding what additional flight testing data, once incorporated into a simulator, can do for the training value. Unfortunately, because as any experienced jet transport instructor (at least those who are as old as me) will recognize … no two stalls are exactly the same. If we capture specific data, even if the data has never previously been captured as the airplane is stalled … we will have data on ONE stall – and the simulator will handle and perform exactly like that same event – and only that event. Unfortunately, in an airplane any subsequent stall will have slightly or dramatically differing entry “feel,” or “sound,” and will probably not provide any other identical indication that a stall is developing or has developed. This is where the competently trained and knowledgeable instructors will have to be relied upon to impart relevant information and indicate what additional task training and practice may be warrented.