Flight training isn’t just about learning the right way to do things. A huge portion concerns recovering when things go wrong—self-inflicted or otherwise.
For instance, take the power-off stall. I remember my first one, as the instructor pulled the power and I held the yoke back, stall horn screeching, until our Cessna Skyhawk’s nose snapped downwards. “Reduce the back pressure on the yoke,” he said calmly as farmland loomed over the cowling. “Now add power.” I did both. Speed on the rise, I eased back on the yoke and raised our nose to the horizon. As our altitude increased, I retracted the flaps in notches. Just like that, recovery was complete.
