Power-Off Stall

The Landing-Approach Stall

When pilots come in to land, they fly slowly with flaps out. If they get a little too slow and pull back too much, the wing can stall. Practicing this up high teaches your hands the fix so it becomes automatic.

Power-Off Stall

A stall set up like a landing: low power, flaps out, nose coming up until the wing gives up.

The Stall Break

The moment the wing quits flying. The nose drops on its own, the airplane shakes, and the horn beeps.

Recovery Order

Power first, then pitch (lower the nose), then clean up the flaps a step at a time, then climb away.

Here's why we practice high: power-off stalls happen when pilots fly too slowly on the way down to land — close to the ground, where there's no room to fix a mistake. Up at altitude we are safe and high, so we can practice the fix as many times as we like.

Instructor Setup

Cessna 172 with G1000, airborne at 4,000 feet. Plan about 20 minutes. Confirm a HELL check and clearing turn before each stall. Brief the recovery order before the first attempt: power, pitch, flaps.

Session Flow

1. Brief the setup (3 min). Explain the landing-like configuration and the recovery order in plain language.
2. Configure for approach (4 min). Slow to approach speed, flaps 20, power back toward idle, wings level.
3. Enter the stall (5 min). Coach the student to raise the nose slowly until the stall break. Call out the symptoms together.
4. Recover (6 min). Full power, lower the nose, retract flaps to 10, climb away. Repeat once or twice so the order sticks.
5. Wrap (2 min). Return to cruise and recap power-pitch-flaps.

Coach recovery at the first clear sign of the stall. Keep the nose-down input gentle and the power prompt every time.

Debrief

Confirm the student recovers in the right order without prompting.

• Set up the landing-like configuration (slow, flaps 20, low power)
• Raised the nose until the stall break and named the symptoms
• Recovered in order: full power, lower the nose, retract flaps to 10
• Climbed away and returned to normal flight

Next Lesson

Next up is "Power-On Stall" (K24): the stall that can happen on takeoff or a steep climb, which is a bit more dramatic and needs rudder to keep the wings level. If the recovery order was shaky today, review power-pitch-flaps at the start of K24.

Skills You'll Work On

These are the maneuvers and procedures covered in this lesson. Your instructor tracks each one as you progress.

• Clean Stall Entry & Symptoms
• Recovery With & Without Power
• Incipient Recovery of Clean Stall

Grades reflect what was covered in this lesson, not a certification of pilot competency.

Lesson Plan

Where this fits: Second of three sessions drawn from PPL Lesson 8, "Stalling." This session covers the power-off (approach) stall; K22 taught the angle-of-attack concept and K24 covers the power-on (climb) stall.

Prerequisite

K22 "What Is a Stall?" — can describe angle of attack and the basic recovery.

Materials

C172 G1000 simulator, student checklist card, headset sized for the student.

Goal for this session

Student can set up, enter, and recover from a power-off stall using the order power, pitch, then flaps.

Looking Ahead

• K24 — Power-On Stall: the takeoff and climb stall, using rudder to keep the wings level.
• K25 — Why Planes Spin: how an uncoordinated stall can begin to roll into a spin.