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Friday, May 15, 2009 12:00 AM

Ask the pilot

Do you really think I'd lie to you about cabin air? Plus: The Colgan crash and the problems with regional airlines.

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  • Thursday, May 14, 2009 11:56 PM

    @J Mike Hedblom

    A stall is the lack of sufficient lift.

    No. When a lifting airfoil enters a stall situation, lift is lost, but the loss of lift is a result of the stall, not the cause of it.

    Stalls occurs when the boundary layer no longer flows smoothly over the airfoil. In effect, there is separation of the boundary layer flow and the result is turbulence and drag instead of lift, or in the case of something like the horizontal stabilizer, control.

    I fail to see how a tail could stall. It does not generate lift.

    Any airfoil can stall. Whether it generates lift or not is irrelevant. I suggest you review the previous ATP columns where Patrick Smith addresses tail stalls for more info.

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