DEEP STALLS
What happens if you ham fist yourself into a departure and a deep stall? This section will tell you how to recover from a deep stall - but first a little background on the procedures. Every month I am required to fill out a CAP (Critical Action Procedures) sheet. We have several emergencies that require F-16 pilots to quickly perform memorized steps. To keep these steps fresh in our minds, we have to write them down from memory every month. The deep stall is one of these critical emergencies. So what procedures do you think we are going to use in Falcon 4.0 to recover from a deep stall? You guessed it: the actual F-16 CAP. I'll just add some commentary about how to use the game-specific controls.
So you can get out of a deep stall, I'll tell you how to purposefully get yourself into one. You'll deep stall when you get your jet slow, nose high, and you assault the flight control limiters. First, get the nose of the jet up to 70°-90° and pull the power back to idle. Next, wait for the low speed warning horn. When it comes on, pull back hard on the stick while rolling the jet as fast as possible. You must perform this maneuver quickly to get the jet to depart controlled flight and enter a deep stall. You are in a deep stall when you feel like the jet is fluttering like a leaf but falling like a brick. If you cannot control the jet and keep asking yourself "What's going on?" you are in a deep stall.
If you have confirmed that you are in a deep stall (loss of pitch and roll control, and AOA pegged at 30° in an upright or -5° negative when inverted), execute the following procedures:
1. Controls: Release
In this step, all you do is release the controls. In other words, take your mitts off the joystick. By doing this, you give your jet the best chance to self-recover. This does not mean that you should release the controls when you hear the horn, but it does mean that when you see the AOA pegged and that the nose of the jet is no longer tracking, release the controls.
2. Throttle: Idle
This step is pretty easy. Use your throttle or press Shift-"-" to bring the throttle back to idle.
If the jet is inverted:
3. Rudder: Opposite yaw direction
If you are in an upright deep stall, you can skip this step since the FLCS will automatically dampen your yaw rate. If you are inverted, though, you have to arrest your yaw rate by stepping on the rudder that is opposite your yaw or spin direction. If you are yawing left, step on the right rudder or press ">".
4. MPO Switch: Override
The MPO (Manual Pitch Override) switch must be engaged in order to override the FLCS and gain control of the aircraft flight controls. To engage the MPO, press "O". Use the MPO switch to get into override mode.
5. Stick: Cycle in phase
This is the critical part of the procedure, because you have to put those same big mitts back on the joystick and fly this beast out of trouble. You must get in phase with the pitch bobbing (oscillation of the nose) and rock the jet out of the deep stall. Pull back on the stick (or push if you are inverted) until the nose comes up. The nose will come up momentarily and then start back down again. As soon as the nose starts to fall towards the horizon, get in phase with the aircraft and push (or pull if you are inverted) to bring the nose down toward the ground. The nose will no doubt rise again, and you will have to repeat the process at least one more time.
Do not just push and pull on the stick. This will not get you out of a deep stall. You must get in phase with the jet. If you push or pull the nose down toward the horizon and the nose stays low, do not pull the nose back up. You know you have recovered from a deep stall when the nose stays down. When this occurs, hold it down until you get to 200 knots. At 200 knots, start a gentle pull out. If you are recovering from an inverted deep stall, do not roll upright and pull until you get to 200 knots.