Flight Beyond The Stall
As a wing stalls, aileron effectiveness is reduced, making the plane hard to control and increasing the risk of a spin starting. Post stall, steady flight beyond the stalling angle (where the coefficient of lift is largest), requires engine thrust to replace lift as well as alternative controls to replace the loss of effectiveness of the ailerons. For high-powered aircraft, the loss of lift (and increase in drag) beyond the stall angle is less of a problem than maintaining control. Control can be provided by vectored thrust as well as a rolling stabilator (or taileron), and the enhanced manoeuvering capability by flights at very high angles of attack can provide a tactical advantage for military fighters such as the F-22 Raptor. Short term stalls at 90–120° are sometimes performed at airshows. The highest angle of attack in sustained flight so far demonstrated was 70 degrees in the X-31 at the Dryden Flight Research Center.
Read more about this topic: Stall (flight)
Famous quotes containing the words flight and/or stall:
“It is marvelous indeed to watch on television the rings of Saturn close; and to speculate on what we may yet find at galaxy’s edge. But in the process, we have lost the human element; not to mention the high hope of those quaint days when flight would create “one world.” Instead of one world, we have “star wars,” and a future in which dumb dented human toys will drift mindlessly about the cosmos long after our small planet’s dead.”
—Gore Vidal (b. 1925)
“Old age, believe me, is a good and pleasant thing. It is true you are gently shouldered off the stage, but then you are given such a comfortable front stall as spectator.”
—Jane Harrison (1850–1928)