I took spin training - Aghhhhhhhh!!!!

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

My continuing lust for aviation experiences led me to take “spin training” this past week while on vacation.

The flight school I contacted has a college of aeronautics. They agreed to let me sit in with one of their ground school classes, and then do the flight the next day.

The day of the flight the instructor and I took off in a Cessna 152 and headed up to 8000 feet over the local practice area. I asked to do a few power off stalls to warm up, as I hadn’t flown a Cessna in some time; no problem.

Then he explained he would demonstrate the beginning of a spin, recover before it fully developed, and that I should just keep my hands in my lap this first time. I took a breath and said I was ready.

The ground school session had let me know exactly what to expect. The night before I had done some “chair flying” to visualize what was going to happen. But there was nothing - NOTHING - that could have prepared me for that first spin.

The instructor brought the throttle to idle and pulled the yoke back to initiate a stall. When the stall warning began to go off he stepped firmly on the left rudder. The plane yawed a bit to the left and then…

“Aghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!! Oh my God!!!”

I nearly shit myself as the Cessna snapped over inverted, pointed straight at the ground, and seemingly tried to thow me out the door.

The instructor recovered from the spin in less than one turn, while I scraped myself off the floor of the plane. He reassured me that most people reacted as I had the first time, and that we would continue at whatever pace I could take.

He then had me shadow him on the controls as we did two more entries and quick recoveries. The first time I did exactly the wrong thing and tried to pull back on the yoke when it was time to recover. What surprised me was that I knew perfectly well what to do and couldn’t make myself do it. Although you aren’t pointed straight at the ground, it sure seems that way. And pushing forward on the yoke (which is the correct procedure) is an act of will.

We then entered and recovered from fully developed spins to both sides. By this time I was getting queasy, which hardly ever happens to me.

Finally, I had to do it myself. The instructor said he would count three rotations and tell me to recover. So I pulled it into the stall, stomped on the rudder, and sort of turned off my brain as the plane went into the spin. I held the controls as they were to continue the spin, then performed the recovery on cue.

By this time I was about to vomit, so we headed back with me holding the sick-sack up to my face. I took this time to ask the instructor, “So, how long does it take to get USED to that?” He laughed, and said it took a while. Then it gets to be fun.

I managed (just barely) to not vomit, and was able to fly the approach and landing. After landing my legs were rubbery, and I was no good for anything the rest of the day. Couldn’t eat for a few hours either.

In the end, it was certainly a valuable experience. And I do plan to do it again to get more comfortable.

I can sort of see how it could get to be fun. Sort of.

2

Very cool. Thanks very much for sharing a slice of your life that most of us won’t get to experience first hand. Thankfully, mind you!

3

Sounds like you gained some valuable experience, good job.

I took my first spin training while learning power-on stalls. :wink:

4

My next flight lession was to be spin training - then insane work hours re-asserted themselves and I haven’t been in the air for over a year. :frowning:

5

I thought you were talking about a public-relations course.

What a pleasant surprise.

6

Tyy it inverted - great fun.

7

Er, make that “try”.

8

Um, if you thought the Cessna was terrifying, I recommend you not take spin training in a Piper Tomahawk.

Once you get used to them, spins are fun. The thing to remember is that they aren’t a high-stress manoever, so the airplane is in no danger of coming apart or anything. And it won’t build up speed like a spiral dive. So just keep your wits, gradually apply opposite rudder, and everything’s cool. In fact, in a Cessna all you need to do is take your hands off the controls, and it will recover on its own in half a turn.

9

You misspelled “Traumahawk”

10

Heh. I actually thought of spelling it ‘Traumahawk’.

But that’s nothing. You should try spinning my Grumman AA1. It’ll start off a little scary, but by the 20th turn of having the controls do nothing, you’ll be really scared. Just before you hit the ground.

Canada actually used to spin train in Grumman AA1’s, until they fond out that there were several spin modes that were unrecoverable. Now it’s not recommended. (-:

11

That’s my ‘old’ Grumman AA1. I am currently planeless. Now I just sit in front of a room fan and go “vroom vroom” while ripping up $50 bills in order to retain the experience.

12

Very true. Recovery wasn’t difficult.

I’ve read stories about WWII pilots/trainees who put their planes into spins. They made futile attempts to force the plane out of it and finally bailed out. While hanging in their chutes they would watch the plane recover itself! All they had to do was let go of the controls.

13

I thought you were talking about spinning classes – you know where you all get on bikes and a sadistic instructor barks at you to speed up, speed up, speed up despite the fact that you are dangerously close to expelling your lungs.

And then the next morning you wake up and try to stand up and Arghhhhhhhhhh!!!

But, egads, you guys do spins in planes. Up in the air. Where you could crash and die. My hat’s off to you. Please don’t vomit it in.

14

Spins were my absolute favorite from flight training, although the T-34C doesn’t snap inverted with that rudder input. :frowning: That would have made it even better.

I know how you felt, though. My first aerobatics flight was on a Friday and I lost my lunch. I didn’t feel right for the entire weekend. Even the sound of a turboprop made me queasy.

15

Gassendi, Thanks again for sharing that experience for we non-flyers. Interesting as hell!

Sam Stone: Sure the weren’t $100 Bills? (I think you hit a vein of truth there though.) :smiley:

16

Gassendi –

Everyone should go through spin training. You probably know that it was eliminated as part of the primary training for U.S. pilots in the 60s after we learned that we were killing more pilots in training that in inadvertent spins.

Some planes (including those with my screen name) can snap into unplanned spins when stalled, particularly if the aircraft is cross-controlled even slightly. You don’t want to hear the story about a pair of inadvertent spins I did in a 201 – you’d question the sanity of the instructor (and mine too).

17

Sure I do! And I promise only to question the instructor’s insanity…

And maybe later I’ll tell you about the time I did an accelerated stall in a Colt that sure got my attention. :slight_smile:

18

Our flying club almost lost our Mooney 21 when a pilot on a checkride accidentally stalled and spun it while doing some slow flying with the instructor. They claim they recovered no more than 500 ft off the ground.

Then that same pilot flew that Mooney back from a cross country with the towbar hanging off the nosewheel. God knows how he kept it out of the prop.

Then on another occasion that same pilot ignored a NOTAM and flew that Mooney straight through an active military jump zone with jumpers hanging under canopies around him.

Then that pilot was not allowed to fly our Mooney any more. (-:

19

Our flying club almost lost our Mooney 21 when a pilot on a checkride accidentally stalled and spun it while doing some slow flying with the instructor. They claim they recovered no more than 500 ft off the ground.

Then that same pilot flew that Mooney back from a cross country with the towbar hanging off the nosewheel. God knows how he kept it out of the prop.

Then on another occasion that same pilot ignored a NOTAM and flew that Mooney straight through an active military jump zone with jumpers hanging under canopies around him.

Then that pilot was not allowed to fly our Mooney any more. (-:

20

This actually is a pretty good story, so I should tell it. It’s already been told on the Mooney e-mail reflector; see www.aviating.com/mooney

I’m an instrument rated pilot and at around 800 hours decided to chase a commercial rating, thinking of becoming a CFI and teaching my daughter to fly.

I was up over the Puget Sound at 2500’ working on the commercial when my instructor said, “Perform a full stall.” We debated the standards for the commercial test, he insisting (as a rookie instructor) that a partial stall and recovery wasn’t good enough.

So we entered slow flight, stalled the plane and suddenly were inverted in a spin. We did 1.5 to 2 revolutions (a Mooney loses about 1000’ per revolution) and then recovered. * We then went back to 2500’ and did the same maneuver! Same result: an inverted spin at 2500’!!*

It was a Monday. I recall waking up on Tuesday in a cold sweat, thinking, “What kind of idiot lets an instructor do that to him twice in 5 minutes?”

Like many pilots, I have a tendency to control a little strongly with the left hand. But I’d learned years ago to make sure that the co-ordination was good in the aircraft. Nonetheless I’d been bit by a “cross-controlled” stall.

Experienced Mooney instructors will tell you that most of the 10,000 Mooneys built aren’t particulary nasty in a stall. However, a few will show nasty spin entry when cross-controlled (and it doesn’t take much).

There are a couple of lessons out of this:

  1. never trust an instructor who doesn’t have long hours in make-model of aircraft. My instructor understood things that I never will about low-altitude flight (he was a former helicopter instructor). But I know Mooney master instructors and he was a fool.
  2. full stalls with the potential of a spin entry shall not be taught below 5,000’ AGL
  3. you are ultimately the PIC, even in instruction. If you’re uncomfortable with the training requirements, land; get them clarified; then decide how to proceed. We tend to give our instructors long leeway but remember that spin training was eliminated because of the large number of accidents.