Pilots can make minor adjustments to the wing flaps, effectively changing the wing's angle into the wind. A more tilted wing allows more lift to be created at a lower speed. Try it sometime. Tilt the leading edge of your hand upward and the wind pushes up from underneath and your hand is lifted. Tilt the wing of an airplane too far, though, or reduce the speed too much, and pockets of turbulence form along the top of the wing.
Lift is reduced, and the plane enters a stall and falls from the sky.
Trained pilots can recover a plane from a stall by pointing the nose downward and increasing the plane's speed until lift wins out again. E-mail us with general site comments or suggestions. Newsticker for your site Earth . The Edge . News to go Asteroids .