Lawn dart effect

The lawn dart effect is an aircraft’s steep, unrecoverable dive into the ground, resembling a lawn dart plunging point-first into a lawn.

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Aircraft upset: An unintended aircraft attitude or flight path from which the pilot has difficulty recovering. A lawn dart dive is an extreme outcome of an aircraft upset.
Air France Flight 447: An Air France Airbus A330 that crashed into the Atlantic in 2009 after entering a high-altitude stall. Its prolonged stalled descent is often used to examine how an upset can become unrecoverable.
Upset prevention and recovery training: Flight training that teaches pilots to recognize, prevent, and recover from unusual aircraft attitudes. It prepares pilots to respond before a steep descent becomes unrecoverable.
Controlled flight into terrain: An accident in which an airworthy aircraft under pilot control unintentionally strikes terrain. Unlike a lawn dart dive, controlled flight into terrain does not require an unrecoverable aerodynamic upset.
Stall (flight): A loss of lift caused when airflow separates from a wing at an excessive angle of attack. A stall can trigger a steep descent, though it does not by itself make recovery impossible.
United Airlines Flight 232: A 1989 DC-10 accident in which an engine failure damaged all three hydraulic systems. The crew’s loss of normal flight controls illustrates how control failure can sharply limit recovery.
Flight data recorder: An aircraft recording device that preserves flight parameters for accident investigation. Recorded control inputs and flight paths can reveal how a dive developed.
Loss of control in flight: An accident category in which an aircraft departs controlled flight and the crew cannot regain it. The lawn dart effect is a vivid description of one possible loss-of-control outcome.
Spin (aerodynamics): An autorotating descent that can develop when an aircraft stalls asymmetrically. A developed spin can become steep and difficult to recover from near the ground.
Pinnacle Airlines Flight 3701: A 2004 CRJ-200 crash after the aircraft stalled during an attempted climb beyond its operating ceiling. The accident demonstrates how an aerodynamic stall and inadequate recovery can end in ground impact.