Flying Instructors who refuse to spin

[wheels up]

I figure that spin training is important. Not only is it heart warming to be able to recover from an unintentional spin, but spin training definitely gives a student confidence in him/herself and the aircraft.

Most of my spinning experience has been in the C172 / C150 whilst instructing, although I have spun a number of different types. A spin in a C172 can be a very docile manouver if conducted properly, and recovery is usually virtually instantaneous. I have no qualms whatsoever about spinning a C172, and the manouver probably puts less stress on the airframe than a spiral dive demonstration.

For some reason I frequently had students apply full power in the dive following recovery from the spin - probably a response to stall training. I also found a tendency for students to overdo the forward elevator application, occasionally leading to a bunt in the recovery.

I find that the spin demonstration that most instructors do is unrealistic and gives the student the impression that a spin is extremely difficult to get into and requires large and aggressive controls movements. Typically the power will be off, the nose will be raised above the horizon and at the stall full rudder will be applied to induce a spin. In a C172 you need to be quite heavy handed to induce a spin in this way.

If you try the same excercise with 20 degrees of flap and power on, the plane will flick into spin a lot more readily. I am not advocating that you go and spin with the flaps down, since the aircraft is not certified for this, but I used to demostrate the wing drop in this configuration and then catch it before a spin developed. Typically this is exactly the configuration where the low time pilot will get himself into trouble. A scenario would be a go-around from an approach with landing flap, pilot forgets to retract flap, applies power, raises nose to climb attitude, speed bleeds off, possibly crossed controls, wing drop followed by spin.

One exercise I used to practice with my students was controlling the wing drop at the stall with rudder. Lower flap, apply power, raise the nose until the aircraft is at the stall and hold the aircraft at the stall using rudder to control any wing drop tendency - like riding a bucking bronco. If the wingdrop cannot be controlled immediately lower the nose and close power to prevent incipent spin from developing.

In my gliding instructing days I used to "talk" a student into a spin, a typical scenario being a low skidding turn onto final approach. The instructor sets out the scenario to the student that he is returning from a cross country and low on the turn onto final approach. You tell the student to start the turn (at a safe altitude), coax him into raising the nose since he is getting to low, and finally tell him to kick in some rudder since he is overshooting the runway. Suprised a couple of students that way! Most gliders spin readily.

The only aircraft that frightened me in a spin was a C150 Aerobat with a 150 hp engine upfront. The first time I spun it, the aircraft took a good couple of turns to recover, and then only after the control collumn was fully forward. I spun the aircraft on many occasion thereafter and never got it to duplicate the behaviour on the first spin, despite my best efforts.