Expert: Paul Soderman - 10/24/2005

Question
Va (maneuvering speed) is determined by airpcraft model. It respresented the highest speed that a stall will occur with full abupt control movement prior to structural damage. The  Vg graph illistrates this this. On the positive side of the G's, the max load for that catagory arictaft intercept with the stall airspeed. On the bottom side, is the -Gs. Since the -G is typically smaller, it will intercept the stall speed at a lower point, or lower airspeed. So, is the published Va the positive side or the lower of the two?

Thanks  

Answer
Hi David
My pilot friend Mike Reinath provided this answer:

Well, I think he is asking about stall at positive and negative G. He seems to be asking if the maneuvering speed is the speed that occurs at stall when pulling positive G or the other speed that occurs when pulling negative G (which is a lower speed).

The answer is that maneuvering speed is always for positive G. Almost all significant loads are in the positive direction, except when doing aerobatics or inside a thunderstorm.

Paul