[leadpenny]

A failed engine would not have caused the airplane to stall. The pilot, most likely, caused that.

[Conservatrix]

How does a pilot cause the engine to stall?

(I am curious because I have a terrible fear of flying and dread my kids to go in small planes for joyrides...)

[rlmorel]

Most aviation accidents are not the sole result of pilot error or the sole result of mechanical failure. They are most often a result of the two. Often, a mechanical error will occur, and is then compounded by another type of error.

Imagine you are a driving a car down a busy road, and smoke starts coming from under your hood. You take your eyes off the road and are busy scanning the gauges to see if the smoke is from engine overheating or whatever, when you notice your fuel gauge is nearly empty. Now you have a situation that is making you concentrate on what to do when...BLAM! You rear-end a car that had stopped in front of you.

In avation parlance, this is known as "getting behind the curve". While you were troubleshooting the problem, you forgot to drive the car. Often, when a pilot encounters a problem, they become so engrossed that they forget to do things like...keep the plane level or lower the landing gear or flaps. Next thing they know, the stall indicator sounds, they are alarmed and overcompensate and then it is katie bar the door.

[Gunrunner2]

I'd say demanding the aircraft fly when it didn't have the airspeed caused it to stall. An engine failing doesn't mean an aircraft stall. Stall is exceeding the critical angle of attack and disruption of the smooth airflow over the wing. Losing an engine and all the guy had to do was roll out wings level, establish a glide and come in for a glider landing. The fact that he hit the ground nearly vertical indicates a stall but is hardly conclusive of an engine problem. In fact, when faced with a nose down situation pilots usually pull back on the throttle and this sudden (apparent) loss of power may lead the untrained observer to think the engine quite when in fact it had not. It is as likely the pilot wasn't paying attention to his altitude and airspeed and stalled the aircraft while in a tight turn and went it. But until the report comes in, it is certain we can;'t be certain what happened.

[Gunrunner2]

Misread your post. . .time for more coffee.

;-)

[Redcloak]

Most writers using the term "stall" have no idea what it means. They use the term to describe the engine cutting out, the same as they would with a car engine.