Stalling Cessna 172 - alike aircraft

[D.G]

Hi. 

 

I am looking to get some more understanding on stalling a 172. During flight school a friend of mine took a 172 to a training area for practice and during the time out he said he pointed the nose too high and the aircraft fell backwards. From his explanation he said that he had to move the yoke back and forward to get the nose to drop and lost quite a bit of altitude. He was alone in the aircraft with full tanks. 

 

From what I understand is that the usually 172 swings over the front during a stall, the engine weight is quite felt.

 

I'm questioning, would the aircraft swing itself over after a small drop in altitude or does the pilot need to work the controls? 

 

Is it normal for a 172 to fall some amount before it corrects?

 

Is there a procedure that applies for the Cessna 172 or alike for falling backwards?

 

I read up on the hammerhead stall. But I'm interested in a vertical fall backwards. Pretty much if he had saved the aircraft or was it due to swing over. 

 

Thanks 

Edited July 25 by D.G

[facthunter]

Scary stuff. Learn some more about these things. When the stick is pulled back gradually it will drop the nose and lose height when it stalls. Add power before the stall and lower the nose to level and you won't lose any height. The C 172 is one of the more docile planes in the stall bit have still gone in and killed all on board if you push it far enough. The "Natural" thing to do when the nose drops is to pull the stick further back which is bad news and especially if some rudder is applied. .  . Nev

[Thruster88]

The docile aircraft seem to claim the most victims. Perhaps the more high performance ones get some respect. 

 

A 172 or any aircraft will only "fall backwards" if the nose was pointed straight up and some elevator is used as the speed goes away. Not a normal manoeuvre for a 172.

[Roundsounds]

I find it very hard to believe a pilot could unintentionally place a 172 in an attitude where it “fell backwards”. Assuming they did set up a tail slide there’s no way he would be able to pull back and push forward on the yoke as it fell backwards. 
A Cessna 172 with one or two POB will exhibit quite benign stall characteristics. Put a couple of people in the back seat along with some weight in the rear baggage area and the stall characteristics won’t be so benign. 

Edited July 26 by Roundsounds

[Bosi72]

22 hours ago, D.G said:

 

Is there a procedure that applies for the Cessna 172 or alike for falling backwards

Tailslides / Whip stalls are prohibited maneuvers not only in Cessnas, but in some aerobatic aircrafts.

 

Aircrafts are designed to fly forward where aileron/elevator/rudder hinges/mounts are relatively protected from the airflow.

 

Flying backward with controls deflected would exceed structure limitations of the controls and can cause control surfaces breakup.

 

That's why in a Tailslide it is better to keep controls firmly centralised and let the gravity (and airflow) do the job.

 

Agressive whip stalls can also rip the engine mounts.

 

 

ps: CASA part 91, aerobatic manoeuvres, for an aircraft, means manoeuvres of the aircraft that involve: (a) bank angles that are greater than 60°; or (b) pitch angles that are greater than 45°, or are otherwise abnormal to the aircraft type; or (c) abrupt changes of speed, direction, angle of bank or angle of pitch.

 

If your friend is not aerobatic rated he would be breaking laws

[D.G]

Thank you for all the responses. I'm definitely learning.