The Alpha Principle

Loss of control in flight (LOC-F) is implicated in 51 percent of all fatal personal and business-use GA accidents, according to the NTSB. The preponderance of LOC-F events are aerodynamic stalls, according to NTSB member Dr. Earl Weener and as reported in his presentation at AOPA Summit in October 2012. Notably, fatal stalls are less common in instructional flight, perhaps because pilots are expecting them when training, and the instructor helps detect and respond to them. In my almost 30 years of experience, stalls and stall avoidance are constantly emphasized and feature regularly in NTSB investigations. I suspect a lot of Aviation Safety readers have even more experience than me, and have seen the same emphasis and crash record even longer.

Key Takeaways:

• Loss of control in flight (LOC-F), primarily aerodynamic stalls, is a major cause of fatal GA accidents, often due to misconceptions about stall conditions and recovery.
• Stalls are fundamentally determined by exceeding the critical Angle of Attack (Alpha), not just airspeed or nose-high attitude, and can occur at various aircraft attitudes, especially under increased G-load (e.g., in level turns) or during uncoordinated flight.
• Effective stall avoidance and recovery involve understanding the role of Alpha, managing G-forces, releasing back pressure on controls to unload the wing, and maintaining coordinated flight with rudder, rather than relying on potentially misleading traditional training scenarios.

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