What term describes the spiral descent motion of an aircraft in a stall that can transition to autorotation?

• A. Spins
• B. Spiral descent
• C. Snap
• D. Inverted spin

Answer: (A)

Spins describe the corkscrew, spiral descent that occurs when an airplane is in a stall and begins to yaw and roll, creating a rotation about the vertical axis that can continue as an autorotation. This is the motion you’re looking for: a stalled airplane that transitions into a self-sustained rotation as it descends in a spiraling path.

Spiral descent by itself is just a turning descent and isn’t necessarily tied to a stall or autorotation. A snap is a rapid, abrupt roll after a stall, not the sustained spiral rotation described here. An inverted spin is a spin with the aircraft inverted, which is a specific spin mode, not the general term for the stall-induced spiral descent that can autorotate.