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:

• The article argues that current "unusual attitude recovery" training is insufficient and fails to prevent loss-of-control (LOC) accidents, which remain a leading cause of aviation fatalities.
• It advocates for a comprehensive "loss-of-control (LOC) recovery training" that moves beyond basic maneuvers to address the "why" of LOC, including risk factors like automation errors, environmental factors, and low-energy states.
• Effective LOC training should incorporate ground discussions on aerodynamics and risk, teach pilots to manage the "startle factor," practice full control deflection, develop adaptive recovery strategies for diverse scenarios (including post-recovery aircraft issues), and utilize appropriate aircraft or simulators for realistic upset simulations.

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