Cross-Controlled Stall Demonstration (ASEL, ASES)

A stall that occurs when the critical AOA is exceeded with aileron pressure applied in one direction and rudder pressure in the opposite direction — uncoordinated flight (AFH 5-20).

It is demonstration-only: the AFH states plainly that only flight instructor applicants may be required to perform it on a practical test (AFH 5-20). Your students will never be asked to fly it; they will be shown it, once, at altitude, so they recognize the setup that produces it.

The evaluator must select Task F, G, or H from this group, per the Area X note — so prepare all three.

To show the effects of uncoordinated flight on stall behavior and to emphasize the importance of maintaining coordinated flight while making turns (AFH 5-20).

Note what the objective is not: it is not to teach a recovery technique the student will use. All pilots should be familiar with the situations that can lead to a cross-control stall, how to recognize and avoid it, and how to recover should one occur (AFH 5-20) — in that order. Avoidance is the deliverable.

The overshot base-to-final turn. From AFH 5-20, step by step:

1. An unrecognized tailwind component on base gives a higher groundspeed, so the pilot turns late or with inadequate bank.
2. The airplane overshoots the runway centerline.
3. The pilot corrects by increasing bank, increasing back elevator pressure, and applying excess rudder in the direction of the turn — inside, or bottom, rudder — to bring the nose around toward the runway.
4. The difference in lift between the inside and outside wing increases, producing an unwanted increase in bank angle.
5. The nose slices downward through the horizon.
6. The natural reaction is to pull back, driving AOA toward critical.
7. Should a stall be encountered with these inputs, the airplane may rapidly enter a spin (AFH 5-20).

At traffic-pattern altitude there is no recovery. The safest action for an overshoot is a go-around (AFH 5-20).

Because the usual warning isn't there. The aerodynamic effects can surprise the unwary pilot because this stall can occur with very little warning and can be deadly if it occurs close to the ground (AFH 5-20).

What the pilot actually gets: the nose may pitch down, the bank angle may suddenly change, and the airplane may continue to roll to an inverted orientation, which is usually the beginning of a spin (AFH 5-20).

There is a second reason worth teaching: in an uncoordinated maneuver, the pitot/static instruments — especially the altimeter and airspeed indicator — are unreliable due to the uneven distribution of air pressure over the fuselage (AC 61-67C, par. 109). The instruments lie to you at exactly the moment you'd want them.

1. Clear the area and select an entry altitude that allows completion no lower than 3,000 feet AGL (AI.X.F.S1, S2). Establish a safe altitude for entry and recovery in the event of a spin (AFH 5-20).
2. Lower the landing gear (if retractable) and close the throttle (AI.X.F.S3). Maintain altitude until the airspeed approaches normal glide speed.
3. Do not extend the flaps — the AFH is explicit: to avoid the possibility of exceeding the airplane's limitations, the pilot should not extend the flaps (AFH 5-20).
4. Establish a normal glide airspeed and trim the airplane (AI.X.F.S4).
5. Once the glide is stabilized, roll into a medium-banked turn to simulate a final approach turn that overshoots the centerline.
6. Smoothly apply excessive rudder in the direction of the turn, hold the bank constant with opposite aileron, and increase back elevator pressure to keep the nose from lowering — increasing all three until the airplane stalls (AI.X.F.S5; AFH 5-20).

Two separate reasons, and knowing both is the instructor-depth answer:

Gear down: puts the airplane in a realistic approach configuration and adds drag, keeping the glide honest and the entry speed low (AI.X.F.S3; AFH 5-20).

Flaps up: because of airplane limitations (AI.X.F.R4). The AFH's stated reason is to avoid the possibility of exceeding the airplane's limitations (AFH 5-20); the related principle from the accelerated stall is that flap-extended configurations carry lower design G-load limitations (AFH 5-19). If this stall breaks into an incipient spin, the recovery and pull-out are no place to be flying a flap-limited structure.

Direction: it spins toward the rudder being applied, regardless of which wingtip is raised (AC 61-67C, par. 109; AFH 5-22).

Skid vs. slip: a slip has the ball toward the inside of the turn (too little rudder for the bank); a skid has the ball toward the outside (too much rudder for the bank). Base-to-final is the skid.

The direction depends on which uncoordinated condition you built (AC 61-67C, par. 109):

• Skidding turn — aileron and rudder applied in the same direction. Rotation is in the direction the controls are applied.
• Slipping turn — opposite aileron held against the rudder. The resulting spin usually occurs in the direction opposite the aileron being applied.

Now the trap, because the two sources use the words differently and an examiner will push on it. The ACS/AFH entry is excess rudder into the turn with opposite aileron holding the bank. Name it both ways and you're safe:

• Aerodynamically it is a skid — the ball is out toward the outside of the turn, the nose is being ruddered around, and the AFH calls this exact scenario "a skidding cross-control stall" (AFH 5-20).
• By AC 61-67C's control-position taxonomy it is the "slipping turn" case, because that AC defines a skidding turn as aileron and rudder applied in the same direction and a slipping turn as opposite aileron held against the rudder (par. 109). Our entry holds opposite aileron, so it matches the AC's second description.

Both rules give the same rotation: the AC says a slipping-turn spin goes opposite the aileron applied — and our aileron is applied away from the turn, so rotation is into the turn, which is also the direction of the rudder. That is the general rule to leave the student with: rotation follows the rudder.

From AFH 5-20, in order:

1. Nose-down elevator pressure to reduce AOA until the stall warning has been eliminated.
2. Remove the excessive rudder input and level the wings.
3. Add power as needed and return to the desired flightpath.

The extra step is number two's first half: you must take the crossed controls out. In a normal stall recovery you are neutralizing an ordinary coordination error; here you have deliberately built a large rudder input, and if it stays in while the wing unstalls, you have a yawed airplane with flying wings — a spiral or a spin. The handbook's warning is to follow the recovery before the airplane enters a spiral or spin (AFH 5-20).

Recover at the first indication of a stall or after a full stall, as the evaluator specifies (AI.X.F.S7).

Errors to name:

• Entering with flaps extended — a limitation violation, not a technique error.
• Building the cross-control too abruptly, arriving at the stall before the student has seen the progression.
• Letting the bank increase instead of holding it with opposite aileron — that's an accelerated stall, not a cross-control stall.
• Recovering with rudder still crossed.
• Chasing the roll with aileron at the break — deepens the down-going wing's stall (AFH 5-15).
• Entry altitude too low for a spin recovery.

Guard rails: 3,000 feet AGL floor (AI.X.F.S2); hands and feet close; take the controls the instant rotation begins if the student hesitates; and brief the exchange before you start. This is the Area X maneuver most likely to become Task X.I without being asked.

The five phases of demonstration-performance still apply, but the learner performance phase changes character (AIH 5-21). The student is not being trained to produce a cross-controlled stall; they are being trained to recognize the inputs that produce it and to never make them.

So the lesson structure becomes:

1. Explanation — the base-to-final scenario, drawn on the whiteboard, before the airplane.
2. Demonstration — you fly the entry and the recovery, narrating each control input by name.
3. Learner performance — they fly coordinated turns to the stall, then a slip, then a skid, and describe the differences (AC 61-67C, par. 200d).
4. Evaluation — not "can they do it," but can they explain the ball position in each turn and predict the airplane's behavior (AC 61-67C, par. 200d).

The completion standard the ACS names is exactly this: describe and demonstrate conditions that lead to a cross-controlled stall for future avoidance (AI.X.F.S8).

Name every input as you make it — the whole value is in the student seeing which control did what:

1. "Clearing turns. Floor is 3,000 AGL. Gear down, throttle closed, flaps stay up."
2. "Trimming for the glide — this is short final."
3. "Rolling into a medium bank. Pretend the runway is out there and we've gone through the centerline."
4. "Now the mistake. Bottom rudder — I'm ruddering the nose toward the runway. Watch the ball go to the outside."
5. "The bank wants to increase — I'm holding it with opposite aileron. Feel the controls crossed."
6. "The nose is slicing down. Back pressure to hold it up. That's the third mistake."
7. "There." — then recover immediately, verbally: "Nose down, rudder out, wings level, power in."

Then the sentence that lands the lesson: "Nothing on the panel warned us, and we were at 3,000 feet. On base to final we'd have been at 700."

• Aircraft limitations (AI.X.F.R4) — flaps up, and verify the airplane's approval status. If the demonstration goes to an incipient spin in an airplane placarded against spins, you have exceeded a limitation. Know your POH before you brief the maneuver.
• Stall recovery procedure (AI.X.F.R1) — the recovery must be reflexive for you, because the student's will not be.
• Environmental (AI.X.F.R2) — turbulence can cause an abrupt AOA increase and a stall well above book speed (AC 61-67C, par. 100l); high density altitude degrades the climb back to the practice block.
• Collision (AI.X.F.R3) — clear thoroughly; the nose-high, banked, descending entry blocks a lot of sky.
• Distraction and disorientation (AI.X.F.R5) — the roll can be abrupt and toward inverted (AFH 5-20). A startled student can freeze or apply the opposite of what's needed; the AIH notes that responses to anxiety range from hesitancy to act to the impulse to do something even if it's wrong (AIH 2-12).

Three concrete rules, all from AFH 5-20:

1. The safest action for an overshoot is a go-around. Not a tighter turn.
2. At the relatively low altitude of a base-to-final turn, be reluctant to use bank angles greater than 30 degrees.
3. Do not make a skidding turn when correcting for any overshoot.

And the habit that prevents the setup in the first place: know the wind. The chain starts with an unrecognized tailwind on base producing a higher groundspeed and a late turn (AFH 5-20). Teach pattern wind awareness and you never reach step three.