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Old 13th Apr 2016, 12:39
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A37575
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
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A fumbled stall recovery, leading to a spin is one of the more likely scenarios
It is hard to fumble a stall recovery when most LSA are designed not to drop a wing at the point of stall. Most LSA simply mush gently down with no discernible wing drop. My understanding is the RAA syllabus of training includes stall recovery from a dropped wing.

To be compliant with this published requirement, there are instructors who deliberately force the aircraft into grossly improbable attitudes then apply rudder to manually force a wing drop while the LSA still had adequate flying speed. Airframe stress results and in the long term can lead to serious consequences including component failure.

With many GA and RAA instructors adhering to the hoary old (incorrect) teaching of picking up a dropped wing with rudder, the scene is set for a potentially deadly combination of slow speed near the stall and excessive rudder deflection which is the recipe for a spin. Some LSA engines require the throttle to be held firmly back against a spring in order to obtain idle power. This is because there is often a tendency for the throttle to creep forward unless firmly held back. Worse still, if some power is left on, it can lead into a flat spin.

It is good practice during a preflight briefing on stalling to discuss the correct recovery from a wing drop at the point of stall. However it is not good instructor practice to then artificially and deliberately place the aircraft into gross upset attitudes simply to meet a compliance requirement in an aircraft designed with benign stalling characteristics.
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