Originally Posted by
studen
pilot DAR do you know by chance if the DA-20 katana is cleared for spinning as spin recovery is mentioned in the handbook but doesnt say if its cleared or not ????
Apologies for not being pilot_DAR but anyhow; so far as I know the DA-20 is certified against JAR-VLA (now known as CS.VLA) which requires a spinning assessment during flight testing (and hence advice in the POH) but doesn't normally permit a clearance for deliberate spinning. So, unless anybody knows better, the answer's no.
Non aerobatic spinning clearance programmes are fairly cursory - maybe 60-80 spins in total, and whilst basic safety will have been assured, I'd not attempt to spin the aircraft off the back of one without treating it as another flight test programme.
Re: the original question, before it went belly-up, Old Sarum Flying Club had a couple of Bulldogs and some ex-test pilots on the staff who could do some excellent spinning instruction (I did my last refresher there in one of them, and got excellent value for money). I'm not sure either the pilots or specific instructors are there now so I'd try something like a Tomahawk or Super Cub at Thruxton with, if he's available, somebody like Bob Cole, who is also a test pilot (and a difficult blighter, but that doesn't stop him being a superb instructor).
G