The Stall Horn Fallacy of Stall Prevention

The Stall Horn Fallacy of Stall Prevention - Rod Machado

News flash! The Mona Lisa's eyebrows are missing. That's right. Gone! Some say they were scrubbed off during an early restoration. I suspect they were vaporized when Leonardo had Mona over for a pre-portrait barbecue and he took excessive liberty with the lighter fluid. While I didn't attend a BBQ, my eyebrows are also missing. At least they appeared to disappear as they rose above my forehead in surprise at the FAA's and ACS committee's dumbing-down of standards for commercial pilot certification.

As you know, the FAA and ACS committee recently removed the requirement to demonstrate flight at minimum controllable airspeed (MCA) from the private and commercial checkride. Additionally, the requirement to enter and recover from a full stall was eliminated from the commercial pilot checkride. The most recent commercial pilot ACS only requires applicants to demonstrate stall recovery at the first indication of a stall (i.e., typically the stall horn or light as the FAA conceives it*). Removal of the MCA and full-stall requirements for commercial applicants supposedly prevents them from becoming desensitized to the stall horn, thus increasing the likelihood that they'll reflexively apply stall recovery procedures at the first peep of the stall horn (or sight of the stall light).

CLICK HERE to Read the Rest of the Article!