Definition
Stalls practiced while the airplane is in a coordinated turn rather than in straight flight. Because a banked turn increases load factor and therefore raises the stall speed, the airplane stalls at a higher airspeed than it would wings-level, and one wing typically reaches the stall before the other. Recovery requires reducing angle of attack, leveling the wings with coordinated rudder and aileron, and adding power as appropriate.
Plain English
Stalls done while the airplane is in a turn. Turning makes the airplane stall sooner than it would when flying straight, and it tends to drop one wing rather than both evenly, so the pilot has to recover from a bank as well as from the stall.
Context Anchor
Seen in stall training, especially power-off stall practice, where the pilot learns how a stall can develop while turning, such as during a descending turn toward landing.
Derivation
Stall originally meant to stop or come to a standstill. In flying, it does not mean the engine has stopped; it means the wing’s smooth airflow has broken down and the wing is no longer making normal lift. Turning simply tells you the stall happens while the airplane is changing direction.
Why Pilots Care
Turning stalls demonstrate how bank angle raises stall speed and can lead to an unintentional spin if recovery is delayed or mishandled.
Grounding Statement
Picture the airplane turning with its wings tilted; if the pilot keeps pulling until the wings meet the air too steeply, the turn can stop being smooth flight and become a stall.
Intuition Check
Do not read “stall” here as the engine quitting. In a turning stall, the problem is the wing losing normal lift during a turn, not the engine stopping.
Example Sentence 1
During the lesson, the instructor demonstrated turning stalls in both directions so the student could feel how the airplane behaved differently than in a wings-level stall.
Example Sentence 2
In the traffic pattern, a pilot must watch for turning stalls when making a steep base-to-final turn at low altitude.