People have ‘new fear unlocked’ after seeing video of what happens when a plane stalls
Most of us know what it's like to stall a car.
It's inconvenient - and sometimes a bit embarrassing - but it's never normally that big a deal.
Well, as you can probably imagine, it's a completely different kettle of fish when you're on a plane, suspended in the air.
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Videos of a plane stalling have been doing the rounds on TikTok, and it's a pretty terrifying sight to behold.
All seems well in the cockpit until an automated voice comes on saying: 'Stall, stall' and the plane starts shaking and shuddering, like it's going through extreme turbulence.
We rarely hear about planes stalling, so as you can probably imagine, people are pretty terrified about the 10-second video.
"New fear unlocked. Thanks," one person wrote on TikTok, while another added in disbelief: "PLANES STALL???"
And others just really didn't need this kind of flight-related content in their life. "OMG, am getting on a plane soon and am petrified of flying," a third wrote.
But many just wanted to get to the bottom of what was actually happening.
"How do you stall in level flight?" someone asked, while another wanted to know: "Does this hurt the plane?"
According to international aviation blog, Simple Flying: 'Put simply, a stall is a reduction of lift experienced by an aircraft.
'It occurs when the angle of attack of the wing is increased too much. This is known as the critical angle of attack and is typically around 15 degrees (but there are variations).'
According to Simple Flying, the shape of a plane's wings means that air moves faster at the top than the bottom - and as it speeds up, the air pressure on the top of the wings is lower than the bottom. This difference gives the aircraft the ability to lift.
So, stalling is essentially when this lift is reduced, due to the wings' angle of attack being increased too much.
While the consequences of stalling are potentially dire - if the pilot does nothing, the aircraft will start to fall - according to Simple Flying, it's easily rectified. All the pilot has to do is nudge the plane's nose down 'to reduce the angle of attack'.
In the TikTok video doing the rounds, the pilot doesn't look stressed at all by the plane stalling - which definitely makes us feel a whole lot calmer about the situation.