Media screws up again...

In article ,
Sam wrote:
Here's the link:
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news...94/detail.html

Stall = Engine stall?? Why do they always seem to screw this up??

Because the aviation use of 'stall' is totally foreign to them, and
they know what an engine stall is, and assume that is what happened.

I think whoever suggested replacing aerodynamic stall with the term
'wing fart' (Jim Weir maybe?) has the right idea. The only way to
get the general public to not think stall = engine stall is to use
a term that has no meaning to the general public.

John
--
John Clear - http://www.panix.com/~jac

John Clear wrote:

Stall = Engine stall?? Why do they always seem to screw this up??

Because the aviation use of 'stall' is totally foreign to them, and
they know what an engine stall is, and assume that is what happened.

There was some movie my wife was watching recently while we worked in our
family room. She described it as something in which I'd have no interest,
which means that it wouldn't interfere with my work.

But it had an airplane, so I was watching. And then the aircraft pitched
*way* up (avoiding terrain) and stalled. Except for the poor choice in
maneuvers, it was a decent stall, with the nose suddenly dropping.
However, what's that *sputtering* sound I hear!?!

I started sputtering myself, at which point my wife started to question her
assessment of my ability to work while this movie played.

- Andrew

In article ne.com, Andrew Gideon wrote:
But it had an airplane, so I was watching. And then the aircraft pitched
*way* up (avoiding terrain) and stalled. Except for the poor choice in
maneuvers, it was a decent stall, with the nose suddenly dropping.
However, what's that *sputtering* sound I hear!?!

On a point of pedantry, if you did that in our C140 with less than about
1/3rd fuel in the tank you had selected, the engine would indeed stop.
The fuel pickups are about the mid point between the front and back of
the tank, so as you pitch hard up, all the fuel slops to the back of the
tank. If the level is low enough, it'll unport as it all goes to the
back of the tank.

--
Dylan Smith, Castletown, Isle of Man
Flying: http://www.dylansmith.net
Frontier Elite Universe: http://www.alioth.net
"Maintain thine airspeed, lest the ground come up and smite thee"

On 8 Jun 2004 10:06:45 -0700, (John Clear) wrote:

Stall = Engine stall?? Why do they always seem to screw this up??

Because the aviation use of 'stall' is totally foreign to them, and
they know what an engine stall is, and assume that is what happened.

I think whoever suggested replacing aerodynamic stall with the term
'wing fart' (Jim Weir maybe?) has the right idea. The only way to
get the general public to not think stall = engine stall is to use
a term that has no meaning to the general public.

This subject comes up in this group periodically. Several years ago
an airplane made an off field landing in upstate NY across lake
Champlain from Vermont. As he approached the field, his passenger
panicked and pulled the yoke back causing the airplane to stall and
pancake in too hard. No one was seriously injured but the airplane
wiped out it's landing gear.

The newswoman reading her copy said: "The passenger pulled the yoke
back causing the engine to stall."

It's perfectly normal for non aviators to interpret the word "stall"
that way because the only connection they have to the word is
literally an automobile engine stall. They *KNOW* what happens when
they stall their car and have no idea that stalling in an airplane is
anything different.

At one point, I proposed a survey in which we submitted a different
word to use for the aerodynamic stall. One of those suggestions was
"wing fart". Another was LOL for "Loss of Lift". My wife really
liked LOL and went around from then on chortling "LOL", watch out for
"LOL".

It was easy for her to understand what that meant. But like any non
aviator, even married to someone who is as fanatic about flight as I
am, she did not understand what a stall meant in aerodynamic terms.

So now I refer to a stall as LOL, while around her.

And yes, I did call the news station and spoke with someone there
about their use of the term. I asked the man who picked up the phone
if he realised that it meant something other than the engine quitting
and he said no, he did not. He told me he appreciated the information
and that he'd pass it on. Don't know if he did though.

Corky Scott