Pilots Must Be Prepared for ‘Unacceptable Stall Behavior’

Routine post-maintenance check flight turns catastrophic.

Peter Garrison

Tuesday, July 21, 2026 at 08:00 AM ET

Verified

Edited By:

Travis Tingle

Even a slight alteration in the position of a stall strip can change the stalling behavior of an airplane. [Credit: Adobe Stock]

Key Takeaways:

Two highly experienced pilots fatally crashed a Hawker Beechcraft 900XP during a post-maintenance stall check, which they performed in prohibited icing conditions and above the maximum recommended altitude.
The accident was triggered by an unexpected premature wing stall, likely due to ice contamination, leading to a rapid roll, inverted flight, and a flat spin.
Crucially, the sudden and extreme aircraft upset caused the pilot-in-command to instinctively pull and hold the control column back throughout the descent, a known "startle-driven" reaction that prevented proper stall recovery.
The NTSB attributed the crash to the crew's decision to conduct the test in unsafe conditions and the manufacturer's failure to establish adequate training and experience requirements for pilots performing these high-risk stall tests.

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It is a truth universally acknowledged that when an airplane stalls, the pilot must push its nose down. And yet it sometimes happens that even quite experienced pilots do the opposite. That was the case in February 2024, when two airline transport pilots, who had a combined total of more than 23,000 hours in their logbooks, conducted a post-maintenance stall check on a Hawker Beechcraft 900XP.

The stall check is required after the leading edges of the wings have been removed for a routine, every-four-years inspection. The purpose is to confirm that some subtle, perhaps invisible distortion of leading-edge contour or change in the position of a stall strip has not changed the stalling behavior of the airplane.