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Old 26th Feb 2001, 23:56
  #14 (permalink)  
Genghis the Engineer
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I've spun the Bulldog and the T67M260, but although I've flown the T67A, I've not spun it. Both suffer high rotational spin with mishandling, both suffer a protracted recovery if you mishandle, but both came out eventually with a degree of patience. I did notice a lightening of pitch forces as I approached the stall in the M260 which worried me, but Slingsby didn't consider it an issue.

I've also done quite a lot of spinning in the Tincano. The altered B:A ratio I don't think was as significant as the huge torque (remember the airframe was designed for 2/3 the power). A typical entry from manoeuvre with power required about 100lbf rudder and 100 lbf stick for initial loss of control action, then 150 lbf on the rudder for full recovery action. IMHO this created a disincentive to taking a hand off the stick to close the throttle - with full power it won't recover every time from an erect spin to the left - which is the most common mode from a departure. These were the main reasons that the RAF banned solo student spinning, although I don't know if that ban is still in place.

I don't however think that the Tucano that was lost in a training spin was lost as a consequence of the spinning characteristics - it had a pitch trimmer runaway during the spin itself, which led the pilot to think he'd had a loss of control after the recovery.

G