Ernest Gann, whose 'Fate is the Hunter' autobiography described early aviation mail pilots' method of dealing with being above cloud at destination (no instruments for a let-down) They apparently induced a FLAT spin (minimum descent rate) and held it until either breaking cloud or hitting terra firma! ... in the latter case, the low descent rate made survival chances more possible. As your friend pointed out they all knew how to recover from a spin!.
Deliberately inducing a flat spin is one thing but inadvertently finding yourself in one is something else. Slight thread drift coming up.
The following is a slightly edited report from a flying instructor who ejected from a Macchi jet trainer. It will make your hair stand on end.
Quote:
I was flying a Macchi equipped 70 gallon tip tanks. The spin was unintentional and unexpected as the student was attempting a stall turn after an inverted entry from 10,000 feet and a pull through to the near vertical, when the aircraft quite smoothly entered a spin.
I started counting the turns and after three turns I took over control of the aircraft and went to put on full opposite rudder and full nose down elevator input. To my surprise, this is exactly what the "pilot flying" was doing. I did identify and confirm with the student that the aircraft was inverted after which I eased the stick full aft.
The rate of rotation increased significantly and I initiated the ejection sequence. I understand that the subsequent report following inverted spin trials by a test pilot, found that on occasions the aircraft would 'tumble" and he recommended that deliberate inverted spinning should be prohibited. The incident aircraft did not tumble. I estimate that we were only airborne for ten minutes