Mad Jock
Surely it is irrelevant whether it is a spin? We should be looking at equiping a pilot to be prepared for any eventuality no matter how unlikely.
Not spinning would be akin to not stalling! you could get an aircraft to an incipient stage and then recover and never fully stall an aircraft.
Fear is usually based on the unknown lack of fear is based on knowledge experience and familiarity.
If you are a pilot who has spun many types of aircraft many times you have knowledge of the spin, you have familiarity with the spin and you have experience of the spin which = more confidence with your aircraft.
The biggest fear is not knowing. Spinning is just one part of the flight envelope. Make a pilot familiar and comfortable with aircraft handling in all its guises and you have to have a better pilot.
The biggest killer in any situation and where the pilot will loose the plot is panic. Be unfamiliar and lack confidence with spinning and should you ever get into one you then have that nasty ingredient called panic.
Maybe the word aeros should not be used. Maybe it should be an advanced handling course which includes spinning, fully developed stalls, devloped spiral dives, etc as well as a theoretical understanding of what is going on.
Lister Noble I can remember doing my first spin. I was scared. Then we did more spins until that fear became enjoyement. In fact once in the spin the spin is comfortable. Am I an aerobatic pilot who loves aeros NO. Would I have regretted not spinning a resounding YES. Do I have a better understanding of the spin becuase of it YES. Would that training help me in an inadvertant real spin situation probably YES.
For me a spiral dive is a far more daunting exercise and one where you can easely break the plane. Not only is it uncomfortable with G forces but fast with the chance of going beyond VNE. What do you do there avoid that training too? In the end what would we have left and what sort of pilots ?
Spins back in the early days of aviation were used as a means of controlled descent through cloud in aircraft with no instrumentation.
Pace
Last edited by Pace; 18th February 2009 at 09:54.