Description

"The Airplane Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-3A) states that the term flight at minimum controllable airspeed means a speed at which any further (1) increase in angle of attack or (2) load factor, or (3) reduction in power will cause an immediate stall.

Click here for the FAA's material on MCA from the old Flight Training Handbook AC 61-21A from 1980

Here is some info from a post on a pilot's discussion forum: At normal flight speeds, going faster takes more power and going slower takes less. We're familiar with this, it's intuitive and how cars work. Yet if you fly slow enough, the reverse happens: going slower takes more power, going faster takes less. This is because in slow flight induced drag is the dominant form of drag and it increases even more the slower you go. Drag increasing as you go slower has no analog with cars and is counterintuitive for new pilots. So if you are in the region of reverse command and you add power, it only points the nose up even higher and makes you fly even slower. To get back to normal flight you must push the nose down. More precisely, add power while pushing to prevent the nose from rising. Doing this, you can increase airspeed and smoothly transition back to normal flight without losing altitude.

Here is Dr. Donna Wilt graph on MCA

Here is a video and some material on MCA from a January 2025 FAA Webinar on the topic

You cannot stretch a glide. When you pitch up and slow the airplane below best glide speed for that weight, you will get an initial, transient, decrease in descent angle. However, once the airspeed bleeds off, the induced drag will increase rapidly and cause a greater descent angle. This is sort of like getting behind the power curve or operating in the area of reverse command, sort of!


PvtLP, CFILP, ComLP