59
• Ease out of the dive and increase
to climb power as the nose cuts
the horizon.
Climb up and do it again, and
again, and again, and then the other
way, again, and again, until everyone
is thoroughly comfortable with it.
Or feeling sick.
My close one
I said earlier that I have only had
one accidental, life-threatening
spin. We were practicing stalls in a
Twin Comanche, high above Port
Elizabeth’s Cape Receif lighthouse.
About 10 kts before the stall the
Twin Comanche goes through an
aerodynamic buffeting stage. No
one really seems to know exactly
why. But it is not the stall buffet.
Anyhow as that happened we also
dropped the right wing slightly in
the turbulence. My pupe reacted
by hauling the stick fully back and
applying full power to the right
engine. Don’t ask me why.
This is rather like prodding a
racehorse with a pin on a stick – the
reaction was swift and violent. We
sailed onto our back and spun like a
bastard. I told the pupe to throttle
back and recover in the normal
way. He did this but failed to get
the stick far enough forward so she
immediately flicked into a spin the
other way. I then tried to recover
with an identical result.
By now the lighthouse had grown
in the windscreen and I knew we
only had one more chance to recover.
Fortunately I remembered a mate
telling me about having a similar
disappointment. He was able to
recover only after chucking out the
gear and the flaps.
I tried that and it worked.
My point is that if I had not been
totally comfortable with spinning, I
wouldn’t be here to tell you the story.
So although spins are not
compulsory for PPLs, my adv ice is
get an experienced instructor and
a spinnable aeroplane, and go and
have fun. Once you get used to it, it is
actually huge fun.
And you come away a better and
more confident pilot.australianflying.com.auJanuary - February 2015 AUSTRALIAN FLYINGSafety Skill ServiceSafety Skill Service
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This diagram is courtesy the FAA
and clearly shows the incipient, fully
developed and recovery stages. FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION