The Tomahawk certainly divides opinions .. I flew Cessna's for the first few years, before moving across to the Pa38 in the early 80's .. in fact I had the pleasre of flying the first in in the country down to Greenham Common for a static exhibit at an air display, going on to teach/examine in them very regularly over the next 15 years. It is in my opinion a superior trainer to the Cessna for a number of reasons, in the low speed regime it has a profound ability to teach respect for an aircraft, in the spin it DEMANDS it.
Whilst demonstrating spin entry and recovery myself, I have always found it predictable: after 3 turns the spin axis becomes close to vertical but recovers per text book, HOWEVER ..... one of the joys of advanced instruction is that you get to sit there whilst other people spin it, and that is where the fun can start.
I don't know the percentages, but a high proportion of people did their initial spin training on Cessna 150/152 or other relatively benign types where a tweak of aileron here or there, or a less than comitted push forward during recovery will not make a significant difference to the outcome.. the same cannot be said of the Pa38, my advice to anyone spinning the aircraft is read the section on spinning thoroughly, there is a warning regarding a secondary spin mode which was not included in the manual to take up space.
Mess with the ailerons in the spin it WILL go flat, if you maintain that deflection whilst pushing the "control column forward until the rotation stops" you WILL encounter the secondary spin mode .. and it is definately to be avoided .. it will frighten you as it did me on the two occasions I was present !
That said, after correction (and a couple of additional rotations) the recovery was also per the POH.
READ THE MANUAL PROPERLY and respect the limitations.
There is also a "trick of the trade" when stalling or spinning this aircraft ... slot the elbow of the arm you are using on the control column into the notch between the door and the little armrest (left elbow flying from the left) and keep it there.. it will prevent you from making the roll inputs that complicate matters.
Our company rule was that a full recovery must been made by 3000 feet AGL: sensible planning meant an entry @ 5000 AGL demonstrating and 6000 AGL for a new user .. takes ages to get there too
Fly safe
TR