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AviationRecovery from unusual flight attitudes
The examiner puts the airplane in a nose-high or nose-low attitude and hands it back: solely by the instruments, you identify the attitude and use controls, power and configuration in the right order to return to stable level flight. It is Task E of Area VIII, Basic Instrument Maneuvers, in the FAA Private Pilot Airman Certification Standards, the checkride every private pilot flies.
Free to startThe steps
- Use a proper instrument cross-check and interpretation to identify an unusual attitude, nose-high or nose-low, and apply the right flight control, power and configuration in the correct sequence to return to a stabilized level flight attitude.
- Use single-pilot resource management, or crew resource management, as appropriate.
Safety rules that stop the station
- Any action, or lack of action, that makes the examiner step in to keep the flight safe is unsatisfactory.
- If you do not use sound aeronautical decision-making, including single-pilot resource management, the examiner marks the task as failed.
To pass
- The nose-high and nose-low attitudes identified and recovered to stable level flight with controls, power and configuration in the right order.
- Know how to prevent unusual attitudes and their flight, physiological, environmental and equipment causes, the recovery procedures, how to regain visual conditions after flying into clouds by mistake, the use of automation, and the risks of loss of control in flight, stress, task saturation, a poor scan and spatial disorientation, collision, distractions, instrument interpretation, the operating envelope, control input errors and flying by instruments only.
- Missing the standard on this task fails the task and its area of operation.
Official source
Federal · FAA Private Pilot ACS
Private Pilot for Airplane Category Airman Certification Standards (FAA-S-ACS-6C)
The FAA publishes the Private Pilot Airman Certification Standards free: every task of the checkride with its knowledge, risks and tolerances.
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