Abnormals — a written judgement

The one piece of written work in the course, and it is an argument for a single number that only you can set

Due: 7 May 2027 · Weight: 15%

The brief#

State the altitude below which you will stop trying to recover this aircraft and leave it. Then make the case.

Around 1200 words. Three things have to be in it.

The recovery. Describe the deep stall and the manual pitch override recovery, including why the normal control law cannot perform it. This part has right answers and is the smallest share of the mark.

The number. State your decision altitude. Not the manual’s, not the one the class converged on — yours, with the arithmetic that produces it and the assumptions inside that arithmetic made visible. Two students with different numbers can both do well here. Two students with the same number and no working cannot.

The account. Build the argument on what you wrote the same day as your week 10 sortie, about the point at which you were furthest behind the aircraft. Quote it. Do not improve it.

What you submit#

A single markdown or PDF file, with your unedited week 10 note appended.

How it’s marked#

The number is worth more than the technical description because the technical description is available in the manual and the number is not available anywhere. The final criterion is not a test of how badly your solo went. It is a test of whether the account you are reasoning from is the one you actually wrote.