STALLED LANDING OVER ROAD!? PC12 landing at St. Barts

Nice video, thanks for posting! 2400 hours, (and almost as many flights) in the PC12 here. This is not an aircraft you let stall, for 2 good reasons: the first is the pusher system, which will activate about 5kts before the stall (actually based on AoA), which shoves the control column fowrard so hard it will come out of your hands. It is possible however the pilot is overriding the pusher system with the pusher override button, but very unlikely as that's prohibited for useage like that, for the second reason: that this airplane has a very efficient wing, and as good a wing as it is, it's highly dependant on laminar flow. When she stalls, it flips over on it's back and dies. (Very large, and unpredictable wing drop, requiring significant altitude for recovery. If held at a high AoA it is possible to actually flip it inverted). With flaps 40, the airspeed is very manageable for the last steep section of the approach, and as long as you come over this hill with the correct amount of energy, it will have no problem stopping as it can touch down at roughly 75-80KIAS, and then you have 750hp available in reverse thrust, and good braking below 50KIAS. Did it stall? My opinion is no, it was just some mechanical turbulence.

No stall, sounds like he is flying a low airspeed, behind the power curve, requiring a lot of power to maintain a reasonable sink rate. It sounds like right as he drops he is cutting the power to descend, but just a tad bit early. He adds the power back in to slow the descent, then continues as he clears the terrain. Just my $.02

No stall, just good short field landing technique on this amazing strip, the camera angle makes it look close to the vehicles

Do you even know what a stall is bro?

Looked to me like a textbook arrival at St. Barts. Not that I have done it, but there are hundreds of videos of various planes doing this. There's an excellent one out there that covers one pilot's training in a PC12 to get her qualified to fly into St. Barts. That traffic circle is a visual reference that you use as a target, and then it's a chop n' drop to the touchdown soon, with your gear nearly dragging in the grass. And the PC12 is equipped with numerous stall warning and prevention systems, I doubt that pilot allowed things to get so hairy that a nose over recovery was required one wingspan above the ground.

A little unexpected wind shear perhaps or would there be a downdraft area on the leeward side of the hill?

Others have said it but I'll add my bit. Look at those wind socks. One on either side. 12 to 15 knots minimum. That wind is flowing up and over that hill with fair speed. And it's in layers, some staying tightly attached to the curve of the land, like air over a wing. Maybe some is rotoring behind the hill like a standing roll of air. I think you need 20 plus knots for that but every place is different. Either way, from maybe 1500ft on a longish final descent you would be in lumpy air that was been disturbed since it hit the upwind side of the island, KM away. Then you hit the stuff most affected by the hill and it's descending, following that contour. Some sink just before cresting that little hill seems inevitable. Then you hit rising air from just above that roundabout but you are now heading straight into it as you point down hill for the runway. A cool approach that would take many goes over time to see most of the conditions. Very cool.

I Fly An AN-2 in south América Venezuela, the short field where we go are similar to that approach

I see a shift in wind probably because of the ground proximity, possibly a slight pitch change due to the truck cresting the hill as well, possibly a slight throttle change as well

All that was was the sudden loss of a headwind component. If you've ever flown an airplane before, you'd know that's exactly what that is.

No stall, maybe a slight down draft. It’s a tough airfield, you’ve got to hit the numbers to stop comfortably. This looked a spot on landing.

His sink rate just increased a little more than he'd like its a common thing going into st.barths. You often get downdrafts right before approaching the hill. Pretty sure he was aware which is why he reacted so quickly with the power.

A PC-12 is protected with a stick pusher system which pushes the nose down before it Stalls. And if it does stall (pilots can disable the stick pusher system), it stalls aggressively with one wing stalling before the other and initializing a spin

It was just a slight downdraft as is common on any approach over a mountain. I used to fly into a little grass strip in NC and it had a mountain on one end. I always expected a downdraft and sometimes got an updraft which was worse because of the short length of the strip.

Good indicator of a stall is one wing dropping before the other...not a stall. 👍

flys like a boss

I wouldn't know but nice vid!

Not stalled at all. --Speed was at V ref -- ,,riding,, downdraft then updraft -- not over the road but before -- ,,throttle,, AKA PCL was cut much later -- recording angle gives different impression to some Hope this clear up ,, the stall gate ,, controversy ..cool ( educational ) video

did the plane smash into the ground?   no stall -  controlled sink and then back on the power to end the sink.

Agreed. No stall. Downdraft before top of hill. Nicely compensated for and well-handled by pilot.