Pilot DAR
Spiral dives are a flight test item for the Canadian PPL. Recovery from an incipient spin is also tested. Personally I think this represents a sensible balance between flight training safety and the assurance that essential stall/spin recognition and recovery skills exist in students.
Pace
I asked the question about whether or not you had experience with ab initio training, not to be jerk but because this thread is about spins in the context of the PPL, or ab initio training.
The fundemental difference that ab initio training has over every other kind of training is that it represents the transition from No knowledge or skills to safe flying skills and knowledge. All subsequent training will take existing skills and either expand them or apply them in another way.
Norms and expectations for advanced training are often just not applicable or relevant to ab initio training.........
As I have said repeatedly I am not against spin training, in fact I encourage it in all my PPL graduates, as part a post PPL aerobatics course, just Not during ab initio training.
How would you feel if a Cessna 150 driver told you were flying your Citation all wrong. I bet you would think " he doesn't know anything about flying jets so why does he think he can comment on how I should fly my jet"
Well with respect to comments on how to do ab initio training that is
sometimes how I feel.......
In any case the true problem with PPL training is not a lack of emphasis on advanced flying skills it is a lack of emphasis on basic flying skills !
It is very discouraging to fly with recent PPL graduates and observe that they can not fly at a stable pitch attitude, that the airplane is not properly trimmed, that the aircraft is not balanced, that there are continual significant airspeed and altitude excursions etc etc. That is where flying instruction needs to improve. Instructors IMO are not demanding enough of their students.
Last edited by Big Pistons Forever; 22nd May 2012 at 17:58.