LOC Recoveries

Unusual attitude recovery is a standard part of the FAA checkride for nearly every rating, plus flight reviews and instrument proficiency checks. Pilots dutifully don a hood, put their heads down as an instructor or examiner puts the airplane through a few gyrations and then says, Youve got it. The pilot looks up to see that the airplane is either in a nose-low or nose-high bank and usually makes a power change to help control speed, levels the wings and returns the nose to the horizon before something breaks. A check is placed in the unusual attitudes box and the pilot and instructor move on to other tasks.

Key Takeaways:

• Current "unusual attitude recovery" training is inadequate and fails to prevent loss-of-control (LOC) accidents, which remain a leading cause of aviation fatalities.
• The article proposes a more comprehensive "loss-of-control (LOC) recovery training" approach, moving beyond simple recovery to include recognizing risk factors, understanding the "why" of LOC, and developing measured responses to real-world upsets.
• Effective LOC training should incorporate ground discussions on aerodynamics and risk, realistic in-flight simulations (with an element of surprise and full control deflection), strategies for continued flight with impaired systems post-recovery, and leverage simulators for diverse scenarios.

Key takeaways sponsored by Aviator Pro | Start Your Training ->

See a mistake? Contact us.