Originally Posted by
Pace
There were a couple of fatal very tragic accidents in PC12s where loss of control at altitude resulted in failure of the pilots to recover and I wonder whether this was partially due to too much emphasis on systems and the automatics and not enough on good old handling techniques
Pace
I think it is misleading to say that these accidents were a result of the "failure of the pilots to recover" with the clear implication that a lack of spin training was the problem.
Not being so stupid as to fly directly into a level 4 CB would have prevented one accident and another accident that was the result of a massive fuel imbalance could have been resolved with even the most basic systems knowledge. Not flying over gross would also have helped
In other words these accidents were caused by an were egregious lack of airmanship and good pilot decision making. Spin training is not the way to fix these kinds of accidents.
When I teach stall/spin recognition and avoidance. I do it in 4 steps
1) Recognize and recover from the slow flight regime
2) If the slow flight regime is inadvertently entered then allowed to progress to the stall than recognize the incipient stall and recover before the break
3) If the aircraft is not recovered at an incipient stall than recognize and recover from a fully developed stall
4) If the aircraft is not only allowed to stall but also allowed to yaw after it stalls than recognize and recover from the incipient spin.
The best way to do the later is to explore climbing turn stalls. This is also a great way to reinforce the dangers of skids and what happens if the airplane is allowed to stall while in a skid.
The bottom line is simple. I want my students to develop the instinctive reaction of stick forward, full power, straight with the rudder anytime there is a danger of stalling. If that is applied it is
impossible for the aircraft to spin.
If the student gets into a spin they have to be stupid times 3. They let the aircraft get into slow flight and did nothing, then they let the aircraft stall and did nothing, then they let the aircraft yaw after it stalled and did nothing. I find it hard to believe that after letting the situation so totally deteriorate they are suddenly going to snap to attention and apply the correct anti spin control.