Thread: couldn't get it to stall with power on!

Today was a milestone: my third solo and the first time I was permitted to leave the pattern and go out into the practice area on my own and do some maneuvers. It was an absolutely gorgeous day and a great feeling to be out there on my own.

The first thing I did was a power-off stall, and it was a breeze. I was careful to keep coordinated: didn't want to include spin recovery in my first practice-area solo

Next I tried a power on stall . . . and couldn't get it to stall. Here's what I did: slowed to about 55 kts, applied full power, put the plane in a very nose high attitude. I got the speed down to about 45 kts, but it just wouldn't go any slower: I just continued to climb! I tried it again: same result.

Yes, I might have been able to stall if I had put the nose even higher, but the nose was already higher than where it was the day before with the instructor when he told me to lower it a bit because it was too high!

I'm assuming this was the result of the plane being very light without the instructor on board. It was really an amazing experience to witness the CT's climbing abilities with that kind of AOA. By the way, I was doing the stall at 4,000 ft. in absolutely beautiful weather conditions. Totally clear sky, ground temp of about 65F.

The CT really needs a high deck angle to stall with WOT. Better to try it at partial throttle or you'rw at risk for upsetting the airplane in the stall.

We always teach "feet on the horizon" in gliders for stalls, and it works well in the CT, at least with no or partial power. Haven't tried it with full power.

Doug

Thanks for the insight, Doug. I particularly value the opinions of people with gliding experience because it is so relevant to the CT. When you say "you're at risk for upsetting the airplane in the stall" with a full-power, power-on stall, do I take it you mean the plane could go into an inverted spin? In any case, flying solo, there was no way I could get it to stall with full power on unless the nose attitude was insanely high. On the other hand, my first power-off solo spin was an absolute pleasure. Under control and comfortable.

I hope the instructor or you didn't try to spin the CT. They are prohibited from intentional spins. It's printed right on the panel.

Whoops. I meant to say first power-off solo "stall," not spin. Believe me, I was paying very strict attention approaching the stall to stay coordinated in order to avoid any possibility of a spin.

Originally Posted by markfnkl

Thanks for the insight, Doug. I particularly value the opinions of people with gliding experience because it is so relevant to the CT. When you say "you're at risk for upsetting the airplane in the stall" with a full-power, power-on stall, do I take it you mean the plane could go into an inverted spin? In any case, flying solo, there was no way I could get it to stall with full power on unless the nose attitude was insanely high.

Well, you're going nose-high, full power, probably a lot of rudder, flaps up or zero (simulating a departure stall) and when the airplane stalls, it may drop a wing quickly. When practicing stalls STAY COORDINATED. It's been very helpful to fly a glider and see what happens as we feed in a little rudder or stick as it stalls and how to get a spin started - of course, these models are approved for spins! It was particularly entertaining to do spin entry on the Grob 103 - it would go over on its back before you knew what was going on.

Doug

I have the same prob with the CT I fly. It appears to just hang on the prop at WOT, I usually do them at 4800rpm, 3500agl, and they work out nice. You still get the steep AOT but it looses steam and will stall after about 30-40 seconds.

James

Then just pull the throttle back farther and put it in a more nose up attitude. If you do a WOT slow pull back on the stick it might hang there and loose altitude if you aren't loaded, but if you pull the stick back a little faster it will break over.

Thanks, Roger: I'll try that next time! I probably was a little tenative in pulling back on the stick.

Hi There,

The key to succesfull power off stalls is to get the airplane behind the power curve a bit. Here is the process I teach my students in our CT.

Power reduce to around 3000 rpm maybe a little less, set flaps at 0 deg to simulate the typical departure configuration. You have to be a bit patient but the CT will slow to around 50 knots. At this point pitch the aircraft up even more BEFORE you start increasing the power. This will ensure you get behind the power curve a bit and reduce the time you will have to endure the high pitch attitude before the stall. As you increase the power to max, continue to increase the pitch attitude at the same time. It will take about 20-25 deg nose up attitude to get it to stall. Make sure you make smooth right rudder input as the power goes in. You will get a slight nose bobble at the stall, simple lower the nose to the Vy climb attitude and fly out. If you get a wing drop, make sure to reduce the pitch first before trying fix the roll, adding aileron once the A/C is stalled can increase the risk of a spin.

Hope that helps you out

Eric
Copper City Aviation Services