What should you do as soon as you suspect a tailplane stall?

• A. Retract flaps and increase airspeed a little bit.
• B. Extend flaps and reduce airspeed.
• C. Bank further into the turn.
• D. Push the nose down aggressively and descend.

Answer: (A)

Tailplane stall happens when the horizontal stabilizer loses lift because the airflow is disrupted, often with a high pitch attitude or extended flaps, so the elevator becomes less effective and control can be momentarily lost. The first and best move is to reduce the stabilizer’s load and restore clean airflow over it. Retracting flaps helps because it lowers the tailplane’s required lift and reduces the disturbed air hitting the stabilizer, while increasing airspeed improves the dynamic pressure that helps reattach the airflow and makes the elevator more effective again. This combination puts you back in control and sets up a safer, more controlled recovery. Extending flaps would worsen the tailplane stall by increasing tailplane loading, banking deeper into the turn can worsen the stall tendency, and pushing the nose down aggressively without first restoring control may lead to an unstable descent or further loss of control.