Spin Training - The Way to Go!
As an instructor I have found the spin training I recieved from my instructors, during my CPL trng and for instructor rating to be extremely valuable skills that I hoped I wouldn't have to use for real.
Shortly after having started instructing I was doing a session of circuits with a foreign student who struggled a little with english (all though his english was better than my arabic). There were approximately 15-16 light aircraft in two opposite direction circuits for parallel runways.
I was struggling to try and find a way to get my student to better understand what i wanted him to do when in no time at all we drifted accross final into the parallel circuit. A few seconds (4-5)later i noticed what had happened and without too much forethought I told my student to make an immediate turn towards our runway to avoid a collision.
He must have picked up on some stress in my voice and proceded to make a 60 degree AoB turn with full flap and idle power, before i realised that he wasn't going to add power we dropped into a spin, inverted at 500 agl.
Thankfully I went into automatic spin recovery mode and recovered to a climb, it did not occur to me just how close I came to making an unscheduled contract with terrain until a minute or two later (especially since I was flying an aircraft in which spins are prohibited).
In my oppinion Full Spin Training should be mandatory by PPL/CPL level, if not at least Incipient spin recovery training should be mandatory before PPL. I certainly intend to teach it as soon as I can find someone to certify me.