little red train
Forgive two posts, but I did not want the important comment above to be lost in a bunch of JF verbiage about more general matters. You asked for comments about how best to ensure the correct recovery rudder is applied. While I do not question the accuracy of what you were taught in regard to the aircraft you wrote about (I have never spun a 152) I do feel it may not work on all types and, more importantly, do not feel it is the fastest way of choosing the correct foot to shove out like you want to break the rudder bar (which as we all know is how recovery rudder should be applied and maintained until rotation stops)
If the spin is erect, most people will correctly identify the direction of yaw by seeing the direction the aircraft is rolling. Since they are the same in a simple erect spin that is not usually a problem. However, should the spin be inverted (or become inverted as can happen with a reversed recovery or slow centralisation at recovery) the direction of roll will then become opposite to the direction of yaw. In which case life becomes more dodgy as it is then very much easier to make a mistake.
So what to do? The only way of deciding the direction of yaw that I know of which is totally foolproof for any type of aircraft or any type of spin is the turn needle of the turn and slip gauge. It never lies. If it is pegged out to the left you need to shove the right rudder for all you are worth. And the reverse for the other way. All test flying spin recoveries are initiated this way, and if the test aircraft does not have a turn and slip gauge then one is fitted on a special bracket right up in front of the pilot’s face.
Did you happen to watch Jeremy Clarkson spinning in the ETPS Hunter the other night? If so you may have glimpsed the special spin panel fitted for teaching swept wing spinning at ETPS. It has a turn and slip in the middle and a roll direction light either side. If the left light is on and the needle is out to the left you need right rudder to recover and you are spinning erect. It the needle is out to the left and the right roll light is on you still need right rudder for recovery but you are spinning inverted so you pull the stick back.
I would suggest that aircraft are not normally best flown by rote. But IMHO the exception to this idea is the selection and application of spin recovery controls. They are best identified and used very much by rote. Unless a pilot has pretty recent and comprehensive spinning currency (I don’t care who they are) they will not find an inadvertent spin much fun. Hence the need for rote. Indeed when Bill Bedford demonstrated 12 turn Hunter spins at the 1959 Farnborough air show he did the recovery using the turn and slip and altimeter. He described the view outside as unhelpful in getting the recovery right.
Just to finish on stalling, and not to seriously argue your point about ailerons, it is normal when investigating stalls to establish the response to aileron as you approach the stall and even in it. There is no harm in this if you have the speed pegged (don’t continue the speed reduction while looking at the ailerons) and you desist as soon as you find you do not get normal response to a tentative input. Some light aircraft have remarkably sophisticated wings (with a change of section towards the tip and use of washout) which enables the root to stall first and the outer wing airflow to stay quite benign. I did a lot of stalling with a tufted PA44 to show just this point to aeronautical engineering undergraduates and certainly with all the centre and inner wing tufts facing fully forward in a fully developed stall you could waggle the ailerons (and control bank angle) with impunity.
JF