The other “S” word

Bob is fully aware of my dislike of stalls, the only thing in the plane that whines louder than the stall horn is me.  Still I know I have to do them and I have to break the mental barrier of not being able to stall the plane. Seeing as last time I was persuaded to do some solo work, I knew that this time that I needed to do the other dreaded S word.

We briefed for a flight out to the practice area, some steep turns (worked in as part of the HASEL check) and then some stalls. In Bob’s words “nothing too drastic, we’ll start with some power off ones and then maybe progress to some at 1500rpm”

I agreed (what else was I going to do?) and we set out to the practice area.  The steep turns were ok, the ones to the left better than the right. After 720 + degrees I had to roll out of the right hand turn because I was getting dizzy!

Then the stalls, power off, full flaps. I made a distinct effort to lean back in the seat so that I wasn’t subconsciously pushing the controls forward.  We stalled. I recovered. I complained. Nothing new there.

Bob: “see that wasn’t so bad was it?

I blew a raspberry and gave him the thumbs down! But in reality I was ok

Bob: “let’s do another”

So we did. I’m not a fan, but I survived.

We climbed back up to 3300ft, turned round so we were in our little section of the practice area.

Bob: “OK WMAP, set us up 1500rpm and full flaps”

Me: “I really don’t want to”

Bob : “Ok , do you want me to demo one? I have control”

Me: “NO!! I don’t want you to, I guess I’ll do it”

Apparently the thought of experiencing a stall where I’m not in control of the recovery scares me worse than actually doing them!

So I did one, the wing dropped a little. I picked it up with the rudder. Done! Out the way. Or so I thought

``That was great WMAP, let’s do another, while we are on a roll”

So we did, this time the other wing to what I was expecting dropped. I realised just in time that I was about to step on the wrong rudder.

“I’d be so happy WMAP if we did another one of those”

I pull a face, we do another

And another

And another

All the time Bob pushing me to try it one more time, again and again.

The problem with asking someone to bully you is that occasionally they do. Whether you like it or not. I never should have given him permission to! I'm so easily manipulated into doing what Bob wants, it's ridiculous.

Seriously though, I’m never going to be a fan of stalls but the fear is gone. I know that I can cope with the worst that they can throw at me.  Lesson achieved, even if I do feel like I’ve been through the ringer.