Definition
An unusual attitude is any aircraft pitch or bank position that was not intended by the pilot, typically a steep nose-high attitude approaching a stall or a steep nose-low attitude with increasing airspeed. Recovery is the prompt, correct sequence of control inputs used to return the aircraft to level flight before the situation worsens. In instrument flight, the pilot identifies the attitude from the flight instruments alone and applies a standard recovery procedure: for nose-high, add power, lower the nose, and level the wings; for nose-low, reduce power, level the wings, and then raise the nose to the level-flight attitude.
Plain English
An unusual attitude is when the airplane ends up pitched or banked in a way the pilot didn't mean to put it -- usually pointing too far up and slowing down, or too far down and speeding up. The recovery is the set of steps the pilot uses to get the airplane back to normal level flight quickly and in the right order.
Context Anchor
Seen in instrument training when a pilot practices recovering from unexpected aircraft positions without relying on the outside horizon.
Derivation
"Unusual" simply means "not normal." "Attitude" in aviation does not mean mood -- it means the orientation of the aircraft relative to the horizon (how it is pitched and banked). So an unusual attitude is just an aircraft orientation outside normal flight.
Why Pilots Care
Failure to recognize and recover promptly from unusual attitudes can lead to loss of control, spatial disorientation, or entry into a dangerous spiral dive.
Grounding Statement
Picture looking only at the instruments and realizing the nose is dropping and the airplane is tilted; recovery is the calm, correct action that brings it back to safe flight.
Intuition Check
Do not read attitude as the pilot’s mood or mindset here. In this FAA context, attitude means the aircraft’s physical position in the sky, and recovery means returning from that position to controlled flight.
Example Sentence 1
During simulated instrument training, the instructor placed the aircraft in a nose-low unusual attitude, and the pilot recovered by reducing power, leveling the wings, and then raising the nose to level flight.
Example Sentence 2
Practicing unusual attitudes and recoveries builds the instrument skills needed to maintain control when inadvertently encountering IMC.