I am about to start stall training for my Private Pilot License and I am terrified to death to perform them.?

Question

I do not have a fear of heights, I do however have a fear of spinning the 172. I am very nervous and didn't know if anyone could offer any help or tips to help overcome my fear of stalls (mainly power-on stalls). Thank You for the input!

Answer 1

It is perfectly normal to be nervous the first time(s) Be sure to tell your Instructor of your apprehension and (s)he (should) go over the procedures and explain the aerodynamics of a stall while on the ground. I normally set aside .75 hr ground instruction for this subject before we ever do it in the air.

Remember, You cannot spin unless you are uncoordinated. In the 172, you would just about have to input full rudder deflection to get it to spin. The Cherokee I fly, is very hard to get it to FULLY stall and spinning it on purpose takes work. The 172 is very stable and will want to recover on its own given enough altitude, as you would not have do do anything but keep it from yawing with the rudder to get it to recover



It is normal for someone that has not stalled the plane to be afraid,mostly because of the OWT's. Take my word for it, it is not as bad as you envision. 95% of my students say after their first stall(s) (just like most after a roller coaster ride) . "that was fun, lets do it again!".

The main purpose of stall training is so that you can recognize the onset of a stall and prevent it from doing so. Often, all that is needed is to lower the nose (angle of attack)



Although spin training is no longer required by the FAA, I demonstrate (to be legal with out parachutes, "it is their first CFI lesson") a three turn spin in both directions to my students so they will see that there is no need to be terrified and recovery is just a matter of following the correct procedure. Spin recovery in a 172 is very easy (and as I mentioned before) it is very stable and will "want" to correct it itself.

Answer 2

Quite simply, you have absolutely nothing to be afraid of in a stall (or in a spin for that matter) in a 172. It has quite possibly the most benign stall characteristics of any plane ever built. The only way you would possibly enter a spin in that particular airplane is if you are trying to. Even if you did spin, the plane is rated for that kind of maneuver and would recover with the proper technique. Stall comes slowly and recognizably every time. For power-offs, just pull the power back, drop flaps, trim for slow flight, and hold altitude until you hear the warning horn and feel the buffeting. For power-ons, set take off trim, reduce power and hold altitude until you hit rotation speed, then smoothly apply full power and hold in 20 degrees pitch attitude. When you hear the horn, push forward until airspeed builds up and then resume best rate climb to recovery. The most important thing to remember isn't the procedure though, it's the turn coordinator. If you keep the little black ball in between the lines, you will not spin. So just relax and enjoy the flight. You are flying airplanes! You should be having fun! Once you get comfortable with the stalls, you should ask your instructor if you can spin, just to experience it. It's like a roller coaster only better, because you control the madness of it.

Answer 3

You can start flying now but you can't solo until you are 16 and can't get your license until you are 17 (according to the Federal Regulations). So, you can start learning and flying now but it really won't "buy" you anything until you are between 16 and 17. What you could do now, if you wanted, is the ground school portion of the training. But realize that even if you did the entire ground school now and took the FAA Private Pilot written exam, the exam has a life of only 2 years and you'd have to take it again later! One other thought... if you are on Long Island, check out McArthur or Republic; they should have flight schools there. Good luck.

Answer 4

It took me 6 attempts to spin a C-172, and i was trying. At the stall I slammed the rudder all the way over and all it did was as nose over and basically recovered on its own. Finally I got it to spin, did three revs, and PARE'd id and that was it.



Stalls are fun. Especially accelerated demo stalls, and secondary stalls.

You'll start off with a power off or power on, whcih are very benign.

Answer 5

A 172 is almost impossible to spin, trust me. Even if you should screw up bad enough to get in one, if you let go it will immediately turn into a dive you can just pull out of. You first stalls are quite gentle and it is to get you used to slow speed flight.



There's nothing to fear.

Answer 6

stalls really aren't very exciting. pull the nose up, feel the buffeting, get the stall warning, the nose drops, recover. planes used for training have very gentle stalls. it can be difficult to get some of them to stall at all - they just sit there buffeting, hanging off the prop.



spins are a little more exciting. i didn't know whether to be frightened, excited or what - it was so far from anything i had experienced before that i didn't know what to think. i couldn't relate. it just didn't compute.



after that it was fun. whee!



i've done both in a cherokee, and you have to be really aggressive with the plane to get it to spin. stall warning, full rudder, full up elevator. conclusive stalls are just about impossible.

Answer 7

Your instructor will be there with you in case you do accidentally spin. (Although a spin is actually quite easy to recover from in a C172. If you DO enter one, you just pull the power to idle, put the ailerons in neutral and it will come right out).



However, whenever your in a stall, if you'll keep the ball centered you won't have to worry about going into a spin. In a power-on stall, you'll need to give it a lot of right rudder to keep the ball centered. Also, when in a power-on stall (or any stall for that matter) if one of the wings starts dropping, DON'T correct it by using the ailerons. For instance if your left wing starts dipping, don't try to correct it by giving it right aileron because that will cause the left wing to stall even more and then the aircraft WILL enter a spin. If I remember correctly, you're supposed to give it opposite rudder.

Answer 8

I remember being so scared of stalls at first... but it is something that you will overcome quickly as you become familiar with the action of the stall.



I'd suggest telling your instructor that you're a bit nervous about stalls, s/he'll probably understand and help you through it.

Answer 9

Well you are testing there will be a trainer in the cockpit with his hands hovering over the yolk ready in the event of a mess up.