Well I was obviously playing late night devils advocate with this thread
I base my opinion on what I have seen and heard over the years in a variety of flying school and clubs around the country.
I have found on more than one occassion that a student believed that he should be very careful with the rudder during stalling as their instructor had told them thats how they enter a spin. Such crass carry over from pro-spin entry into a PPL holders thinking is embarassing. The concept of adverse yaw from the ailerons is quite frequently 'forgotten' somewhere. Pretty fundamental stuff.
As for the syllabus. As I understand it in the good old days when spinnning was still in you had the following situation (illustrative numbers only):
11 people killed in spin accidents per year, 8 during some form of training.
Spinning removed from general syllabus...
5 people a year killed in spin accidents.
What has been achieved is fewer spin related accidents BUT an increase in spin accidents during which the pilot may have had no effective training in how to recover.
Its very much a baby and bathwater conundrum.
I admit I've not dug into the stats to check this theory but it has been received wisdom from several different sources over the years.
My view is that its OK to leave spinning out of the syllabus AS LONG AS the spin entry recognition and recovery is taught effectively and the FULL implications of adverse yaw/use of rudder are covered in ever lasting detail in the classroom.
By preference for myself I would like spinning to become mandatory because I enjoy the discipline the exercise imposes.
I also think its a good idea that you *teach* some of the manouveres that PPL's will generally try within their 1st 100hrs with passengers on board, e.g. chandelles, wing overs.
Cheers,
WWW