John Clear wrote:

Stall = Engine stall?? Why do they always seem to screw this up??

Because the aviation use of 'stall' is totally foreign to them, and
they know what an engine stall is, and assume that is what happened.

There was some movie my wife was watching recently while we worked in our
family room. She described it as something in which I'd have no interest,
which means that it wouldn't interfere with my work.

But it had an airplane, so I was watching. And then the aircraft pitched
*way* up (avoiding terrain) and stalled. Except for the poor choice in
maneuvers, it was a decent stall, with the nose suddenly dropping.
However, what's that *sputtering* sound I hear!?!

I started sputtering myself, at which point my wife started to question her
assessment of my ability to work while this movie played.

- Andrew