Any airplane, within the limits of its structure and the strength of the pilot, can be stalled at any airspeed. At a given airspeed, the load factor increases as angle of attack increases, and the wing stalls because the angle of attack has been increased to a certain angle. Therefore, there is a direct relationship between the load factor imposed upon the wing and its stalling characteristics.

When a sufficiently high angle of attack is reached, the smooth flow of air over an airfoil breaks up and tears away, producing the abrupt change of characteristics and loss of lift which is defined as a stall.

A rule for determining the speed at which a wing will stall is that the stalling speed increases in proportion to the square root of the load factor. To further explain, the load factor produced in a 75° banked turn is 4. Applying the rule, the square root of 4 is 2. This means that an airplane with a normal unaccelerated stalling speed of 50 knots can be stalled at twice that speed or 100 knots, by inducing a load factor of 4. If the airplane were capable of withstanding a load factor of 9, this airplane could be stalled at a speed of 150 knots. [Figure 1-34]

Since the load factor squares as the stalling speed doubles, tremendous loads may be imposed on structures by stalling an airplane at relatively high airspeeds. An airplane which has a normal unaccelerated stalling speed of 50 knots will be subjected to a load factor of 4 G’s when forced into an accelerated stall at 100 knots. As seen from this example, it is easy to impose a load beyond the design strength of the conventional airplane.