Practice stalls on your own?

"PilotCFI" wrote in message
4...
"Dudley Henriques" dhenriques@noware .net wrote in
ink.net:


wrote in message
oups.com...
Ok, so say you are post-solo and approved to perform stalls OR you
are a private pilot.

Is it smart to go out and practice stalls on a normal basis? For
proficiency and for fun?

Or are stalls something you should only being doing for training?

I would like to hear from both pilots and instructors on your
thinking of this topic.

Also what percentage of you out there do practice them on your own?

Thanks

You can consider yourself safe to perform solo stalls if you have had
proper training in stalls not only entered from normally anticipated
flight attitudes but also from abnormal entries such as accelerated
and crossed controlled entries.
Competent instructors will make sure you have had this training.
EXTREMELY competent instructors will exceed the book requirement in
stall training and make sure you have had basic spin entry and
recovery as well. With this training in your tool kit, you should be
perfectly safe in practicing stalls solo.

Dudley Henriques


I agree Dudley. My students get this kind of training. I would only
add that to stay safe, keep practicing and get at least an annual eval.
I know every two years is the requirement, but remember the requirments
are minimum standards.

Pilot/CFI/CFII

I'm a great fan of "practicing". I've always advocated to the pilots I've
trained, the adoption of what I call a "never ending training mode" that
treats every flight, no matter how trivial a flight, as a training flight
requiring a serious self appraisal, adjustment in technique, and/or
correction as an ongoing result.
This requires a professional approach to everyday flying that uses a highly
developed habit patterns where a pilot engages in a constant self evaluation
and correction pattern geared toward maximizing his/her performance on a
constant basis.
I like a habit pattern in a pilot that causes him/her to come off a
perfectly executed flight thinking about how he could have made it better.
:-)

Dudley Henriques

In article et, Dudley Henriques wrote:

I like a habit pattern in a pilot that causes him/her to come off a
perfectly executed flight thinking about how he could have made it better.

Are you suggesting even a remote possibility of a perfectly executed
flight?

I think of it like a law of thermodynamics. You may in theory be
able to get close, but perfect ain't ever gonna happen.


Morris (figuring Dudley's already come closer than I ever will)

In article , Journeyman wrote:
In article et, Dudley Henriques wrote:

I like a habit pattern in a pilot that causes him/her to come off a
perfectly executed flight thinking about how he could have made it better.

Are you suggesting even a remote possibility of a perfectly executed
flight?

I think of it like a law of thermodynamics. You may in theory be
able to get close, but perfect ain't ever gonna happen.

Hit send a moment before completing the thought. Of course, you'll
get closer if you're actually aiming for it.


Morris

"Journeyman" wrote in message
. ..
In article et, Dudley
Henriques wrote:

I like a habit pattern in a pilot that causes him/her to come off a
perfectly executed flight thinking about how he could have made it
better.

Are you suggesting even a remote possibility of a perfectly executed
flight?

I think of it like a law of thermodynamics. You may in theory be
able to get close, but perfect ain't ever gonna happen.

No. I'm not suggesting that at all. A "perfectly executed flight" to a
pilot should be a relative term that applies to a flight executed
successfully with no specific issues and in no way implies a literal meaning
for the word "perfect".
You could, if you wanted to do so, make an argument for the literal meaning
of the word "perfect", but I believe it's fairly obvious what was meant
here, so why push for that?
Naturally no flight will literally be "perfect". That's the reason you
should, as I have already said, make a self evaluation after each flight
seeking ways to make the next flight better. If there was no better, there
would be no need for self evaluation.
Just to be clear I'll restate what I said so that there is no
misunderstanding as to what I am saying.
Although reaching "literal" perfection as a pilot might not be possible, a
pilot should never stop trying to reach perfection, and approach each and
every flight seeking this unattainable goal.
Dudley Henriques

Cub Driver wrote:
On 24 May 2005 10:51:42 -0700, wrote:


Is it smart to go out and practice stalls on a normal basis? For
proficiency and for fun?


Gosh, I think it's dumb not to!

The first thing I do when I have had a lay-off (which generally means
every March, except that this year the lay-off ended in April) is to
out over some scraggly fields a few miles west of the airport, climb
up to 4,000 ft, and do slow flight and power-off and power-on
(climbing) stalls.

Gives me a feel for the airplane. I would do the same every time I
found myself in a new (strange) airplane.

I've transitioned to several different aircraft types and in each case I
always went up and practiced stalls in the airplane ASAP after being
signed off for solo. I even did them in my weight-shift..

My current plane, a Kolb Firestar, has its own behavior that is
important for me to be familiar with. In particular, it is somewhat
easier than other planes I've flown to get into a secondary stall when
recoving from the first stall (power-off). The airspeed recovers nicely,
but the AOA can go again past critical easily without the right
technique, especially power off.....

So, in my small experience, regular practice with stalls is really
necessary for me to keep current with my airplane....

My next project in this plane is cross-controlled stalls, which I'll
probably start practicing this evening......

LS
N646F


-- all the best, Dan Ford

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