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Stall Accidents

3 investigationsFrom the official reportsUpdated Sep 2026

An aerodynamic stall happens when the wing exceeds its critical angle of attack: the airflow separates from the upper surface, lift falls and drag rises steeply. The critical angle does not depend on airspeed, weight or attitude, which is why a wing can stall at any speed and in any attitude, and why every recovery begins by reducing the angle of attack.

In transport aircraft a stall is normally preceded by warnings such as the stick shaker, buffet and aural alerts, and in fly-by-wire aircraft by envelope protections that can be lost when sensors fail. Accident reports show recurring threads: a warning that surprised the crew, an instinctive pull on the controls when the nose had to come down, speed that decayed unnoticed with the autothrottle or autothrust not engaged, and ice that raised the stalling speed. Training now stresses recovery at the first indication of a stall, and the stall recovery template developed by the manufacturers with the FAA puts reducing the angle of attack ahead of adding thrust.

The investigations

An Air France Airbus A330-200, registration F-GZCP, on the ground at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport.
BEA · 2009

Air France Flight 447

· Airbus A330-203
A temporary loss of airspeed indications at FL350 led to inappropriate control inputs, a stall that the crew never identified and the loss of all 228 people on board.
Loss of controlStallAir dataAutomationCRM
A Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 twin turboprop airliner, registration N208WQ, in Continental Connection colours.
NTSB · 2009

Colgan Air Flight 3407

· Bombardier DHC-8-402 (Q400)
A Q400 slowed into its stick shaker on a night approach in icing conditions; the captain's aft column inputs stalled the wing and he pulled against the stick pusher.
Loss of controlStallIcingFatigueCRM
Recovery of the tail section of the Air Florida Boeing 737 from the Potomac River.
NTSB · 1982

Air Florida Flight 90

· Boeing 737-222
A Boeing 737 took off in continuing snow with contaminated wings and far less thrust than its iced EPR gauges showed, could not sustain flight after liftoff and struck a bridge over the Potomac.
IcingStallCRMHuman factors

The theory in the Library

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Picture credits

  1. Air France Flight 447: Pawel Kierzkowski · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
  2. Colgan Air Flight 3407: DearEdward from New York, NY, USA · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
  3. Air Florida Flight 90: FAA · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Crash Investigations pages summarise official investigation reports for study and exam preparation. The investigating body's report is the authoritative account and prevails wherever it differs from this page. Under ICAO Annex 13, an investigation exists to prevent accidents, not to apportion blame or liability.