Safe pilots prevent loss of control in flight (LOC-I), which is the leading cause of fatal general aviation accidents in the U.S. and commercial aviation worldwide. LOC-I includes any significant deviation of an aircraft from the intended flightpath and it often results from an airplane upset. Maneuvering represents the most common phase of flight for general aviation LOC-I accidents; however, LOC-I accidents occur in all phases of flight.

To prevent LOC-I accidents, it is important for pilots to recognize and maintain a heightened awareness of situations that increase the risk of loss of control. Those situations include: uncoordinated flight, equipment malfunctions, pilot complacency, distraction, turbulence, and poor risk management. Attempting to fly in instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) when the pilot is not qualified or proficient is a common example of poor risk management. The Emergency Procedures chapter of this handbook contains specific information regarding unintended flight into IMC. Sadly, there are also LOC-I accidents resulting from intentional disregard for safety.

To maintain aircraft control when faced with these or other contributing factors, the pilot needs to be aware of situations where LOC-I can occur; recognize when an airplane is approaching a stall, has stalled, or is in an upset condition; and understand and execute the correct procedures to recover the aircraft.

The term “upset” was formally introduced by an industry work group in 2004 in the “Pilot Guide to Airplane Upset Recovery,” which is a part of the “Airplane Upset Recovery Training Aid.” The work group was primarily focused on large transport airplanes and sought to come up with one term to describe an “unusual attitude” or “loss of control,” for example, and to generally describe specific parameters as part of its definition. Consistent with the Guide, the FAA considers an upset to be an event that unintentionally exceeds the parameters normally experienced in flight or training. These parameters are:

The reference to inappropriate airspeeds describes a number of undesired aircraft states, including stalls. However, stalls are directly related to angle of attack (AOA), not airspeed.

To develop the crucial skills to prevent LOC-I, a pilot may receive academic or on-aircraft upset prevention and recovery training (UPRT), which should include: slow flight, stalls, spins, and unusual attitudes.

Upset training places considerable emphasis on understanding and preventing an upset, so a pilot avoids such a situation. If an upset does occur, upset training also reinforces proper recovery techniques. A detailed discussion of UPRT follows, including core concepts, what the training should include, and what airplanes or kinds of simulation can be used for the training. A discussion of various maneuvers and how to execute them follows later in this chapter.

An unusual attitude is commonly referenced as an unintended or unexpected attitude in instrument flight. These unusual attitudes are introduced to a pilot during student pilot training as part of basic attitude instrument flying and continue to be trained and tested as part of certification for an instrument rating, aircraft type rating, and an airline transport pilot certificate. A pilot is taught the conditions or situations that could cause an unusual attitude, with focus on how to recognize one, and how to recover from one.

Given the upset definition, there are a few key distinctions between an unusual attitude and an upset. An upset:

The top four causal and contributing factors that have led to an upset and resulted in LOC-I accidents are:

Turbulence, or a large variation in wind velocity over a short distance, can cause upset and LOC-I. Maintain awareness of conditions that can lead to various types of turbulence, such as clear air turbulence, mountain waves, wind shear, and thunderstorms or microbursts. In addition to environmentally-induced turbulence, wake turbulence from other aircraft can lead to upset and LOC-I.

Icing can destroy the smooth flow of air over the airfoil and increase drag while decreasing the ability of the airfoil to create lift. Therefore, it can significantly degrade airplane performance, resulting in a stall if not handled correctly.