Definition
Aircraft accidents caused when the airplane stalls (the wing exceeds its critical angle of attack and stops producing enough lift) and then enters a spin (an uncommanded, autorotative descent in which one wing remains stalled while the other produces some lift, causing the airplane to rotate while falling). In multiengine airplanes, these accidents most often occur at low altitude during engine-out situations, when the pilot allows airspeed to decay below safe minimums while applying asymmetric thrust.
Plain English
Crashes that happen when a wing stops flying, the airplane starts spinning toward the ground, and there is not enough altitude or time to recover. In a twin, this typically happens after one engine fails and the pilot lets the airplane get too slow.
Context Anchor
Seen in accident-prevention discussions about stalls, slow flight, turns close to the ground, and multiengine training where loss of control can develop quickly.
Derivation
Stall originally means to stop or come to a standstill. In aviation, it does not mean the engine stops; it means the wing is no longer making smooth, effective lift because of its angle to the airflow. Spin comes from the idea of rotating, which matches the airplane’s turning, downward motion during this condition.
Why Pilots Care
These accidents account for a high percentage of training fatalities because altitude is often insufficient for recovery once the spin develops.
Grounding Statement
Picture a slow, steep turn close to the ground: if the wing stalls and the airplane starts rotating downward, there may be no room left to fix it.
Intuition Check
Do not read stall here as an engine quitting. In this term, stall means the wing has stopped producing smooth, effective lift; spin means the stalled airplane is rotating downward.
Example Sentence 1
Most multiengine stall-spin accidents happen in the traffic pattern after an engine failure, when the pilot raises the nose to hold altitude and lets airspeed bleed below Vmc.
Example Sentence 2
Stall-spin accidents remain a primary concern when practicing single-engine approaches in multiengine aircraft.