"Doug Carter" wrote in message
...
Yossarian wrote:

...stalled the airplane in a slightly nose down attitude.

Stalled it with a negative angle of attack?



Stalls can occur in virtually any attitude and at virtually any airspeed.

Attitude isn't the equivalent of angle of attack.

Angle of attack depends on relative airflow, not attitude. It is a very
minute, but important distinction. The aircraft can be stalled by gusting
winds while in a relatively steep dive, or while in "cruise" attitude if it
was reached from a dive too abruptly...

Stall-speeds are approximations that GA'ers use because angle-of-attack
gauges are uncommon, and because they provide an approximation based on
ordinary performance envelope.

Cheers,

Kevin