By Thomas P. Oneto

Many pilots live in abject fear of performing “on-demand” slow-flight maneuvers, either in training or for proficiency. This is despite the fact that each flight—if it’s flown properly, anyway—involves a period of “slow” flying during takeoff and landing. What is so important about slow flight? In fact, why should we be interested in it at all? Good questions, and both are deserving of answers.

Slow flight lies in that regime between “normal” flight with controllability and stalled flight without controllability. It can be thought of as that “no-man’s land” between flying and stalling. So why isn’t there more emphasis on slow flight? Another good question, but this time…