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From: cfiaime@ihnp3.UUCP (Jeff Williams)
Newsgroups: net.aviation
Subject: Re: Slipping and Cross-Control Stalls
Message-ID: <153@ihnp3.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 12-Sep-85 09:44:22 EDT
Article-I.D.: ihnp3.153
Posted: Thu Sep 12 09:44:22 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 13-Sep-85 04:17:26 EDT
References: <763@infopro.UUCP>
Reply-To: cfiaime@ihnp3.UUCP (45261-J. Williams)
Distribution: net
Organization: ATT Bell Labs
Lines: 34

In article <763@infopro.UUCP> david@infopro.UUCP (David Fiedler) writes:
>My instructor surprised me a bit
>during a "pretend" emergency landing, by doing steep (45-degree) S-turns 
>while only 75 to 150 feet off the ground. I
>expressed some mild worry about stall/spins (having read a lot about same
>especially at low altitudes), whereupon he noted that since our nose was
>pointed down quite far, we couldn't stall (I'm not sure of our exact
>airspeed at the time but it WAS at least 60 KIAS; clean stall speed on a
>172 is 50). It seemed almost obvious later, and explained why you can
>cross-control in a proper slip with nose down, but you would be in trouble
>in more normal attitudes.

The first law of flying (even before "pay your CFI") is:
	An airplane can stall in any attitude and an any airspeed.
That is to say that nose position makes no difference as to the ability
to stall an airplane, whether in a slip, skid, or straight and level.

However, most airplanes (most, not all) don't have the elevator authority
at low airspeeds and in a slip to stall.  This is not to be considered a
guarantee.  Where a stall in a slip happens, the airplane will break into
a spin "over the top" where any competent pilot can recover from the 
incipient spin before the airplane actually departs into the classic
nose down attitude of a spin.

By the way, a stall from a skid will break "under the bottom" where most
pilots take up to a half turn before the airplane is recovered.  In the
traffic pattern, this is the one that kills.

As a suggestion, Sammy Mason has written a very good book, "Stalls, Spins,
and Safety."  Mason is an ex-Lockheed test pilot with very good 
credentials.

						Jeff Williams
						ihnp3!cfiaime