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Old 28th Dec 2023, 13:38
  #111 (permalink)  
AvionicsWiz
 
Join Date: Dec 2023
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One must wonder if you are a pilot, or read the preliminary NTSB Report.

Or if a pilot, if you have ever spun in a plane. I have.

From the NTSB Preliminary Report:
About 1019, the airplane entered the first of a series of climbs and descents with corresponding fluctuations in its observed groundspeed. (Note: This indicates a trim issue, not a stall / spin since the groundspeed correlates to the climb and descent) During these oscillations, which varied in magnitude, the airplane’s altitude varied between about 6,400 ft and about 5,300 ft. About 1057, the airplane entered a descent that arrested about 4,300 ft at a groundspeed of 143 kts, after which it climbed to 6,050 ft and slowed to 85 kts. (More of the same - not in control, fighting the plane.) The airplane then began to descend rapidly before ADS-B contact was lost in the vicinity of the accident site. During the last several seconds of the flight, the airplane was on a ground track of 262° descending at a groundspeed that reached a maximum of 228 kts, and the estimated maximum descent rate was about 11,900 ft per minute. (This is not a spin profile. In a spin, you drop in a near vertical configuration, as neither wing has lift.)

In my spins (Cessna 152, Super Decathlon, 35-B33 Debonair (unintentional), the following happened:

Slow flight was the initiation condition. in the 152, I couldn't maintain rudder control, the plane rolled and started spinning. My direction was VERTICAL, not on any angle. I reduced power, used opposite rudder to stop the spin, used the ailerons and elevator to level and break the stall, and restored power.

In the Super Decathlon I was training under the late Gene Littlefield for aerobatics. These were deliberate spins, so we'd go up high, and do the same thing I did in the 152, and the same thing to recover. The Super Decathlon is rated for spins, and I had Gene flying in the back seat to help me if I got into trouble, which I didn't.

In my Debonair, I was doing Commercial maneuvers working on my commercial rating with an instructor in the right seat. Again, at minimum controllable airspeed, she had me pull to a stall. My pull was slow, one wing stalled first, and the Debonair rolled inverted and started spinning.

I identified the spin verbally and executed spin recovery. Obviously successful or I wouldn't be writing this.

All three spins had the same elements - very fast (around 4000 fpm) vertical descents, no angle.

This plane left a 5 foot deep crater, with a "fan-spray of debris." That isn't a spin crash - those "pancake" and have very confined debris fields. They generally don't make that big of a crater.

Sorry, this was not a stall-spin. No way.
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