Learn to practise slow flight and stall recovery in a simulator, with safe setup, correct control order, common-error fixes and real-world limits.
Practise slow flight in a simulator by using a light trainer, calm weather and generous altitude, then reducing power while holding height until the aircraft approaches its critical angle of attack. To recover from a stall, lower the nose, stop yaw, apply the aircraft's recommended power, level the wings and remove drag as speed returns.
For our Aviation & Real-World Flying readers, the key lesson is that an aircraft stalls at its critical angle of attack, not at one universal airspeed. Published stall speeds apply only to stated weights, configurations and load factors. A banked, heavier or contaminated aircraft may stall at a higher indicated speed.
What should I set before practising stalls?
Use a familiar trainer, a repeatable configuration and enough height to recover from mistakes without rushing.
- Aircraft: Start with a stable, normally aspirated light trainer whose documentation provides stall-speed and configuration data. Complex, swept-wing, aerobatic and transport aircraft require type-specific techniques.
- Height: Begin around 3,000–5,000 feet above ground level over clear terrain. This is a useful simulator margin, not a substitute for the legal minima and instructor guidance governing real training.
- Weather: Select daylight, good visibility, calm wind and no turbulence, icing or system failures. Add complications only after the basic exercise is consistent.
- Assistance: Switch off autopilot, auto-rudder and assisted stall recovery. Calibrate the pitch, roll and rudder axes; large dead zones can conceal the small control inputs needed near a stall.
- Loading: Keep fuel, payload and centre of gravity unchanged between attempts. Altering them changes the handling and makes comparisons unreliable.
Use the aircraft's supplied operating data rather than copying an arbitrary target speed. Our explanation of how to select the correct stall-related V-speed reference covers the difference between clean and landing-configuration figures.
How do I practise slow flight in a simulator?
Slow-flight practice should teach precise pitch, power and rudder control near the stall rather than simply holding the lowest possible airspeed.
- Clear the area: Stabilise in straight-and-level flight, check the height and perform a clearing turn. Retaining this habit matters even when the virtual sky appears empty.
- Reduce power: Bring the power back smoothly while using increasing back-pressure to maintain altitude. Apply carburettor heat if the simulated aircraft's procedure requires it.
- Configure gradually: Extend gear or flap in stages if the exercise calls for them. Counter the resulting pitch changes and keep the slip-skid indication centred with rudder.
- Stop the deceleration: As the target speed or first stall cue approaches, add enough power to maintain height and use pitch to hold the required airspeed. Some training standards call for flight just above the warning; others use a specific margin or minimum-controllable-air-speed exercise.
- Trim and scan: Trim off most of the sustained pressure, but expect a strong nose-up tendency when power is added during recovery. Scan attitude, altitude, vertical speed, airspeed and coordination instead of staring at the airspeed indicator.
- Exercise the controls: Make shallow turns, then practise small climbs and descents using coordinated rudder. Avoid steep banks because load factor raises the stall speed.
- Return to normal flight: Apply the recommended power, set an accelerating pitch attitude, retrim and retract drag devices in the sequence specified for the aircraft.
Cessna users can follow our aircraft-specific Cessna slow-flight sequence rather than transferring generic settings to every model.
How do I practise stall recovery?
Every normal stall recovery begins by reducing angle of attack; adding power without unloading the wing may leave it stalled.
- Build up progressively: Practise recovery at the first warning before attempting a complete aerodynamic break. Begin with straight, coordinated entries.
- Recognise the cues: Look for a stall warning, buffet, reduced control response, an increasing sink rate or a nose or wing drop. Cue quality varies between aircraft models and control hardware.
- Reduce angle of attack: Release back-pressure and lower the nose only as much as needed to unstall the wing. Do not force the aircraft towards the ground in pursuit of an arbitrary pitch attitude.
- Stop yaw: Use rudder to arrest unwanted yaw. If a wing drops, do not hold full opposite aileron while the wing remains stalled; that can deepen the stall on the lowered wing.
- Apply recommended power: In many piston trainers this means full available power, but the aircraft's handbook governs. Counter propeller and torque effects while preventing the added power from pitching the nose back into a stall.
- Level and reconfigure: Once the wing is unstalled, level it with coordinated aileron and rudder. Retract gear and flap in the prescribed stages, establish a positive climb and allow speed to build before raising the nose further.
What changes between power-off and power-on stalls?
Power-off stalls resemble an approach or landing condition, while power-on stalls reproduce the higher pitch and stronger yawing effects associated with departure.
| Exercise | Typical set-up | Main trap |
|---|---|---|
| Power-off stall | Low power with clean or landing configuration | Allowing a slip or skid to develop as the nose is raised |
| Power-on stall | Take-off configuration, substantial power and a climbing attitude | Failing to counter torque and propeller-induced yaw |
| Approach-to-stall | Recovery at the first defined warning or cue | Continuing to pull because no dramatic nose drop occurs |
Leave accelerated, cross-controlled and turning stalls until straight-ahead recovery is reliable and you have appropriate instruction. The resulting wing drop can become an incipient spin very quickly.
Why does the aircraft spin or stall again?
Repeated spins and secondary stalls usually result from uncorrected yaw, excessive back-pressure or retracting the configuration at the wrong time.
| Symptom | Likely cause | Correction |
|---|---|---|
| A wing drops sharply | Uncoordinated entry or continued back-pressure | Unload the wing, stop yaw with rudder, then roll level once unstalled |
| The aircraft stalls again | Pulling up before sufficient speed returns, often with nose-up trim | Hold the accelerating attitude longer and retrim during recovery |
| Altitude loss is excessive | Delayed recognition or lowering the nose much farther than necessary | Respond promptly and use only enough pitch change to reduce angle of attack |
| There is no clear buffet or break | Aircraft-model limitations, assistance settings or insensitive controls | Check the settings and use several cues rather than relying on buffet alone |
| The indicated stall speed seems wrong | Different weight, bank, configuration, centre of gravity or icing state | Restore the baseline conditions and verify the correct reference speed |
A particularly dangerous mistake is using inside rudder to tighten an overshooting base-to-final turn. Practise coordinated turns and approach-speed control in the traffic pattern, and choose a go-around rather than attempting stall recovery close to the ground.
How should I measure improvement?
Judge improvement by consistency and coordination, not merely by recording the smallest altitude loss.
Repeat the same aircraft, loading, weather and entry height. After each attempt, note the warning speed, heading deviation, maximum bank, altitude lost, coordination and whether a secondary stall occurred. Replay can expose an unnoticed skid or premature pull-up, but avoid pausing during a scored attempt.
Can simulator practice replace real stall training?
No. A home simulator can rehearse recognition, instrument scanning and the order of control inputs, but it cannot reliably reproduce physical buffet, changing control forces, acceleration or the disorientation of a real stall.
Post-stall behaviour also depends heavily on the individual simulator and aircraft model. A poor model may permit power-only recovery or aggressive aileron use that would be unsafe in an actual aircraft. We explain these boundaries in our guide to which home-simulator skills transfer to real flying.
Real stalls should be practised with a qualified flight instructor, in an approved aircraft and under the relevant operating rules. Use the simulator to make the checklist and control sequence familiar, not as proof that you can perform the manoeuvre safely alone.