Back in 1992, after I had been instructing for a
few years, I was in the local FBO's office where I worked. I was waiting
for one of my students to come back from a solo flight. When my student
came in, he looked as though he had just seen a ghost. He was shaking and
sweating I asked him what happened. The answer that I got was one that
most flight instructors would not want to hear: "I was practicing stalls
in the practice area, and all of a sudden I was upside down, and then just
spinning toward the ground I didn't know what to do, but I heard your
voice tell me to pull the power back and just let go of the control
column, and the plane will stabilize".
If you know anything about small Cessna's, they tend to have a forward CG
and will recover if you just let go of the controls for a second. That is,
if you are not in a fully developed spin. So that is what the student did.
Even more upsetting was when he stated the fact that, once the plane
stopped spinning and the nose started to come up, the altimeter was
reading about 1,800 -1,900 feet.
If you fly in the Phoenix area, you know that the ground elevation is
approximately 1,500 feet MSL. So my student recovered about 300 to 400
feet about the ground. This is far below normal traffic patterns. Would
you like this to happen to you? Because it can happen to you. Or would you
rather have an instructor go over spin entries and recoveries with you?
I was taking aerobatic flight lessons at the time and had practiced plenty
of 3- to 4-turn spins, so I got the parachutes on, and up we went. I
started demonstrating spins and spin entries, and he just kept saying,
"Nope, that is not what happened. It finally dawned on me what had
happened, and I asked him. Sure enough, I had hit the nail on the head.
The spin my student got himself into was one of the worst cases you could
imagine. He was practicing power-off stalls, so the normal recovery
procedure is to lower the nose, add full power, and start retracting flaps
ten degrees at a time.
Little did my student know that the plane had started to enter the spin
when he added full power. The result was a torque roll that placed the
plane upside down at first, then continued to spin with the help of the
full-power setting. I didn't think that a 152 was capable of that, but
sure enough, it was. So he pulled the power and let go of it, recovering
about 400 feet above the ground.
I think every pilot out there should do some type of spin training. Now
that I don't have an aerobatic airplane, I do a flight that shows students
how to enter and recover from the spin. This is not a full spin lesson,
but it shows the student what to expect. If the student does get himself
in trouble, I will let them go as long as I can.
When I had a Cessna 152 Aerobat, I would do spins and basic aerobatics
with every student who wouldn't put the plane over weight. Most students
would be a little scared, but after the first of two flights, they couldn't wait to do the second one.
If you can get up and do this before you solo, I suggest not doing it in
an extra 300. Yes, it will be a fun time, but you want tot get the feel of
the plane you are normally flying. If you cant do it in an Aerobat, try
to get in a Citabria or Super Decathlon. Use a plane that will be a little
sluggish to simulate the plane you are training in.
You should know your spin recovery procedures when you are passed out on the floor of the bar.
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Hello
Thank you for your willingness to help. Advice, suggestions and your deep understanding of flying instruction process helped me very much to resolve my dilemmas and to chart the path for the remainder of my training and after. There are very few instructors like you, ready, willing and able to help students. I will keep you posted. Best regards and safe flying, Dragan Kocic
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