A letter I sent to the Wings Channel

Steve House wrote:

So the whole debate is about whether the instructor in question should have
used the words "adequate lift" instead of just "lift." So how many angels
was it you said could dance on that pinhead?

Beyond the stall, the airplane will begin losing altitude; that much
everyone agrees on. If it were truly "falling", as if the wings were
not there, it would accelerate until it reached terminal velocity (I
believe a speed over 10000 ft/min). That doesn't happen. Instead, the
vertical speed (in a bugsmasher) goes to some considerably smaller value
and sits there. Since the airplane is travelling in a straight line at
constant speed, the wing must not only be producing lift, it must be
producing exactly as much lift as it ever did--namely, the weight of the
plane. (I'm neglecting additional lift from the fuselage, prop, etc. I
think as a first approximation this is legal.)

If lift truly went away at the stall, pilots would *beg* to enter spins,
just to slow the plane down.

Tim