Unusual Recoveries

The mere mention of "unusual attitudes" not only raises eyebrows but-as pilots conjure up out-of-control airplanes plummeting from the sky-can measurably elevate stress levels. The phrase is often a catchall, including encounters with inadvertent stalls and spins, wake turbulence, and uncommanded spirals. Yet a stall by itself, though often a precursor to an unusual attitude event, is not an unusual attitude per se.

A Bartlett

Thursday, May 17, 2007 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

Early recognition and scenario-based training are crucial for safely recovering from unusual attitudes like inadvertent spins, as no method is infallible and sufficient altitude is often a limiting factor.
While older spin recovery techniques like "Neutral Recovery Controls" and the "Hands-Off Method" have been resurrected or introduced, extensive testing has proven them less effective or unreliable for many light, non-aerobatic aircraft.
The NASA Standard spin recovery method (throttle idle, ailerons neutral, full opposite rudder, followed by forward elevator) is the most extensively validated and consistently effective technique for recovering from spins.
Pilots should be trained on the NASA Standard recovery actions from the outset, as it is the highest order spin recovery method and more reliable than alternative, specialized techniques.

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The mere mention of “unusual attitudes” not only raises eyebrows but-as pilots conjure up out-of-control airplanes plummeting from the sky-can measurably elevate stress levels. The phrase is often a catchall, including encounters with inadvertent stalls and spins, wake turbulence, and uncommanded spirals. Yet a stall by itself, though often a precursor to an unusual attitude event, is not an unusual attitude per se. For purposes of this two-part series, well divide our unusual attitudes into two subgroups: