Pilot captures terrifying footage of their plane spinning out of control during stall

A student pilot filmed the moment his plane began spinning uncontrollably during a stalling exercise.

He was flying over Tombstone, Arizona, when the aircraft unexpectedly started to spin. It was captured on camera back in 2012.

"This was a practice power on stall exercise with a student in a Cessna 172," said Timothy Timmons, who sent the video to Storyful. "Notice how the aircraft was yawing left due to lack of right rudder.

"When the left wing dropped, the student attempted recovery by trying to lift the down wing with aileron [a very natural yet, incorrect, response].

"This only aggravates the stall [by further increasing the wings' angle of attack [AOA], and more deeply stalling the wing] and the development of a spin began, as we went into the vertical. The correct response to a wing drop is quick and pronounced opposite rudder.

"In 15 seconds, we went from 7600ft MSL to 6600ft MSL, before recovering. The descent was 4000ft a minute! We leveled off at 2100ft AGL and would have had only an additional 30 seconds before impact."

An aircraft stall is an aerodynamic condition in which a plane is no longer able to produce the lift required for normal flight. Pilots practice planned stalls in the eventuality of a stall in real life.