Originally Posted by
Thud105
Well, in that case you weren't at 400ft. And I don't need to have been there to know that either spinning or being inverted at that height in a K-13 could only end in a crash, whereas you claim he then "gave it back to you." Note also that - as Step points out - to spin abruptly would require a gain in altitude.
I spent a lot of time in the air as a gliding instructor in the 80s and 90s, which included a fair amount of time in K13s. The K13 has a fairly benign spin which is easy to recover from and it does not lose a lot of height. Certainly one wouldn't deliberately enter a spin to avoid an approaching jet! I believe the instructor in this instance "turned away from the threat" and either pulled too hard and unintentionally entered a spin(unlikely), or conducted a fairly vigorous manoeuvre which became a spiral dive, and that might have felt like a spin. Undoubtedly a very unpleasant experience and there are still too many instance if powered aircraft (civil and military) infringing gliding sites. Whilst they are a hazard to gliders, the 2,000 feet of cable in the air offers a significant hazard to powered aircraft!