Recently, Sophie, a student pilot based in Australia, asked a great question on the Ask a Flight Instructor website about how to overcome her fears about stalling. She further noted that:
I more than dislike the negative G feeling that your body experiences and do not feel comfortable in the unusual attitude. My struggle to deal with the above two issues leave me with little confidence to maintain control of the aircraft – especially when solo….
…I find that people just brush it off as me being an emotional female. I am very strong in mind and know i can do them (if ever i am in an emergency) – however the fear is crippling.
Do you have any ideas on how I can combat this fear?????
Commenter Brian suggested that she should start small and that she should:
Spend a day, or a few days, or every flight do at least one, doing nose overs. In other words, pitch up to establish a shallow climb (~10-20 degrees) and then as speed slows down push forward to 10-20 nose low.
He further added that the goal is to leave your seat and then settle back into it and the best way to do this is to use the control yoke to control how much you do or don’t leave your seat. Moreover, he added that it might be a good idea to watch someone do a series of stalls in order to see exactly what is happening to the aircraft during such a maneuver as this can help to ease one’s mind.
Meanwhile, commenter Tony Harrison mentioned that he used to have the same exact fear but then he noted that:
The way I got around it was to slowly sneak up on stalls, by that I mean, start setting yourself up for a stall, but recover before coming close. Next time, take it slightly further. Slightly. Over the course of an hour perform a number of stalls progressively getting closer to a full stall. Even as the buffet comes in, relax the control pressure and just let the aircraft settle – don’t go for the big push over, just relax the pressure and pour on the power.
Hence, we want to ask you our readers: How did you overcome any fears of stalling? Is there any other advice that you would give pilots like Sophie? Feel free to post your comments below.