N
ORMAL
O
PERATING
P
ROCEDURES
R
EVISION
:
-
D
ATE
:
12/29/04
P
AGE
:
21
Copyright
2004 Glasair Aviation, LLC Arlington, Washington All rights reserved
4-8.2 P
OWER
-O
FF
S
TALLS
The power-off stall simulates a stall during the approach to landing.
Entry to this type of stall is best and most realistically accomplished by
applying gently increasing amounts of back pressure on the stick in
order to maintain altitude as the airspeed bleeds off. Power-off stalls
should be practiced at each flap setting to get the feel of slight
differences in the character of the stall with different flap settings.
Given a gentle stall entry as described above, the Sportsman exhibits
virtually no defined stall break. As the wing stalls, the nose will fall very
slightly and the aircraft will begin a “mushing” descent. The lowering
of the nose will be slightly more pronounced in a clean stall than in a
stall with flaps.
If the stick is held fully aft, the descent will stabilize at a rate of 700–
800 ft./min. The aircraft will oscillate slightly in pitch, and the airspeed
will settle at around 50 kts. (58 m.p.h.). In this configuration, the
aircraft remains very controllable in all three axes. This controllability is
naturally a very positive trait, but it makes it crucial that the pilot
recognizes the aircraft’s stalled condition. Sportsman pilots must learn
to distinguish a conventional power-off glide from the mushing descent
characteristic of a stabilized power-off stall.
Recovery from a power-off stall is easily accomplished by relaxing back
pressure on the stick and applying power. Although full power should
be used for any stall recovery, even partial power is sufficient to arrest
the descent with virtually no altitude loss provided that the stick is
neutralized. There is no need in the Sportsman as in some aircraft to
push the stick forward to aggressively lower the nose; this procedure