Stall / Load Factor Visualizer
Load factor, bank angle, stall speed, accelerated stalls and manoeuvring limits.
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Bank the airplane and watch the load factor: in a coordinated level turn the wing must lift 1 / cos(bank) times the weight, 1.41 g at 45° and 2 g at 60°. The stall speed rises with the square root of the load factor, so at 60° the Cessna 172S stalls at 75 knots calibrated instead of 53 - an accelerated stall, at an airspeed that looks safe. The V-g diagram shows the same thing: your point (amber, ringed in cyan) must stay under the amber curve, the most lift the wing can give at each speed. Drag the point, or use the bank and airspeed controls.
Switch to Pull-up / push-over to set the load factor directly with the wings level, and try the two sides of the maneuvering speed. Below it the wing stalls before it can reach the limit load factor (+3.8 g normal, +4.4 g utility); above it a full or abrupt control input can overstress the airplane. The purple VA line is the POH value; the small purple circle is the corner of the diagram, the stall speed times the square root of the limit. Flaps lower the stall speed but also the limits (+3.0 g, and VFE instead of VNE). A lighter airplane stalls slower - and its maneuvering speed is lower too.
Scenario steps through steep turns, a base-to-final overshoot with flaps, pull-ups below and above VA and a push-over. Practice asks six questions - load factor, stall speed, the steepest level turn at a speed, and where a point lies on the diagram - and checks your answers.
Assumption and limits - the Cessna 172S of its Information Manual (POH/AFM Rev. 5): stall speeds of Figure 5-3 (2550 lb, power off, the 1-g value of each flap setting and CG), scaled to other weights with the square root of the weight (not printed by the POH; the same relation reproduces the POH's maneuvering speeds at 2200 and 1900 lb to the knot); coordinated flight; calibrated airspeed throughout (the stall happens at nearly the same calibrated airspeed at every altitude); the indicated airspeed from the POH's level-flight calibration (Figure 5-1) - near the stall the indicator reads lower (Figure 5-3 prints 68 KIAS for 75 KCAS at 60°), so the POH's own stall KIAS are shown where it prints them. The turn radius and rate are for sea level on a standard day (true = calibrated airspeed). The negative stall line is not published for this airplane: it is drawn from the platform's airplane model (negative maximum lift 0.8 of the positive) and labelled MODEL. The pitch on the attitude indicator comes from that model (2550 lb, flaps up) and is not shown where it does not apply. No gust lines (not published). For training - use the POH/AFM of the airplane you fly.
Load factor in a coordinated level turn n = 1 / cos(bank) - the same calculation as the Turn Radius & Bank Angle calculator (identical results checked, with its radius r = V² / (g tan bank) and rate g tan(bank) / V). Accelerated stall: Vs(n) = Vs × √n (FAA Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge FAA-H-8083-25C ch. 5 "Load Factors and Stalling Speeds": 50 kt -> 100 kt at 4 g, 150 kt at 9 g; checked against every KCAS cell of POH Figure 5-3, 24 cells within the printed 1-kt rounding). Steepest level turn at a speed: acos((Vs / V)²). V-g diagram (PHAK "Vg Diagram", Figure 5-55): lines of maximum lift n = ±(V / Vs)², the limit load factors, the never-exceed speed; the maneuvering speed as "the minimum airspeed at which the limit load can be developed aerodynamically" (the corner, Vs × √limit) beside the POH VA. Weight: Vs × √(W / 2550). Two PHAK approximations do not follow the square-root relation exactly and are noted: "greater than 72°" for 3 g (3 g is 70.5°) with "75 knots" for a 45-knot airplane (77.9 kt), and the Vg example speeds 92 / 112 / 137 mph for a 64-mph stall (90.5 / 110.9 / 134.2 mph).
Aircraft data: Cessna Model 172S Information Manual incorporating the POH/AFM Revision 5 (19 July 2004), serials 172S8001 and on - Figure 5-3 Stall Speeds (p. 5-12), Flight Load Factor Limits normal (+3.8 / −1.52 g flaps up, +3.0 g flaps down, 2550 lb) and utility (+4.4 / −1.76 g, +3.0 g, 2200 lb) with design loads 150 % (p. 2-10), Figure 2-1 Airspeed Limitations in KCAS and KIAS (VNE 160 / 163, VNO 126 / 129, VA 102 / 105 at 2550 lb, 95 / 98 at 2200 lb, 88 / 90 at 1900 lb, VFE 107 / 110 and 85 / 85; "The utility category maneuvering speed is 98 KIAS at 2200 pounds", p. 2-4), Utility Category maneuvers and entry speeds ("Abrupt use of the controls is prohibited above 98 knots", p. 2-9), Figure 5-1 Airspeed Calibration (p. 5-9). The POH maneuvering speed lies 1.3 kt below the corner at 2550 lb (102 vs 103.3 KCAS) and 8 kt below it in the utility category at 2200 lb (95 vs 103.3 KCAS). FAA Airplane Flying Handbook FAA-H-8083-3C ch. 5 "Accelerated Stalls" (pp. 5-19, 5-20: never with flaps extended, about 45° of bank, at or below VA; know the published 45° flaps-up stall speed - 57 KIAS / 63 KCAS here). Regulations: 14 CFR 1.2 (VA, VS, VS1, VNE, VNO, VFE), 14 CFR 23.2005 (d) (steep turns of airplanes not certified for aerobatics: not more than 60° of bank) and 23.2200 (the structural design envelope; the current part 23 states no load factor numbers - this POH's are the airplane's limits), 14 CFR 91.307 (c), (d) (parachutes beyond 60° of bank with passengers). Private Pilot ACS FAA-S-ACS-6C PA.V.A (steep turns: maneuvering speed and weight, load factor and accelerated stalls, rate and radius of turn; ±100 ft, ±10 kt, ±5° of bank).
- FAA Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge, FAA-H-8083-25C (current on faa.gov, read 17 October 2026), chapter 5 "Aerodynamics of Flight", pp. 5-33 to 5-39: load factors, the category limit load factors and the 150 percent factor of safety, load factors in steep turns (60° = 2 G, 80° = 5.76 G, Figures 5-52, 5-53), load factors and stalling speeds (the stalling speed increases in proportion to the square root of the load factor; Figure 5-54), design maneuvering speed VA, the Vg diagram (lines of maximum lift capability, limit load factors, maneuvering speed, never-exceed speed; Figure 5-55)
- FAA Airplane Flying Handbook, FAA-H-8083-3C (2021, with its MOSAIC addendum of 20 October 2025, which does not change chapter 5), chapter 5 "Maintaining Aircraft Control: Upset Prevention and Recovery Training", "Accelerated Stalls" pp. 5-19 and 5-20 (stalls above the +1 G stall speed; never with flaps extended; about 45° of bank at or below VA; the published 45°, flaps-up stall speed)
- Cessna Model 172S Information Manual 172SIM incorporating the Pilot’s Operating Handbook and FAA Approved Airplane Flight Manual, Revision 5 (19 July 2004), P/N 172SPHUS05, serials 172S8001 and on - Figure 5-3 Stall Speeds at 2550 pounds (p. 5-12), Flight Load Factor Limits, normal and utility categories (p. 2-10), Figure 2-1 Airspeed Limitations with KCAS and KIAS and the utility category maneuvering speed (p. 2-4), Utility Category maneuvers and recommended entry speeds (p. 2-9), Figure 5-1 Airspeed Calibration (p. 5-9), maximum recommended turbulent air penetration speeds (p. 4-5) - aircraft data, Model 172S only
- 14 CFR 1.2 (eCFR current, read 17 October 2026): VA design maneuvering speed, VS, VS1, VNE, VNO, VFE; 14 CFR 23.2005 (d) (maneuvers of airplanes not certified for aerobatics: steep turns of not more than 60° of bank), 23.2150 (stall characteristics in turning and accelerated turning flight), 23.2200 (structural design envelope); 14 CFR 91.307 (c), (d) (parachutes for intentional maneuvers beyond 60° of bank with passengers)
- Private Pilot for Airplane Category Airman Certification Standards FAA-S-ACS-6C (November 2023) PA.V.A Steep Turns (maneuvering speed and the impact of weight, load factor and accelerated stalls, rate and radius of turn; altitude ±100 ft, airspeed ±10 kt, bank ±5°); Commercial Pilot ACS FAA-S-ACS-7B CA.VII.D Accelerated Stalls
- Model choices of this tool (stated on the page): calibrated airspeed throughout; other weights by the square root of the weight; the negative lift line from the platform airplane model (0.8 of the positive maximum lift, a model value); the turn at sea level on a standard day; the practice questions and their tolerances (stall speed ±2 kt, bank ±3°, load factor ±0.05 g)