"Bertie the Bunyip" wrote in message
.. .
"JGalban via AviationKB.com" u32749@uwe wrote in
news:7ec1fcb50fea9@uwe:

Ricky wrote:


I also remember being warned "no spin is exactly the same or
predictable, so DON'T do them solo! Was this just a warning from my
school so we wouldn't screw up their gyros or are spins indeed
possibly very dangerous inherently for some reason?


Sounds like the school didn't have a whole lot of confidence in the
spin
training they provided. Assuming you're within the proper weight and
CG envelope, spins should be quite predictable. Particularly in
something like a 152.

A local FBO will only allow spins in their Great Lakes aerobatic
trainers
(they also have Supercubs and Huskies) because the have cageable
gyros. I've often wondered if this isn't an Old Wives Tale. I've
been spinning my Cherokee on a fairly regular basis since 1994. The
gyros often tumble during spins, but that's never caused a maintenance
problem. I've still got the same gyros in the panel that were there
when I bought the plane 14 yrs. ago. They've never been removed for OH
and they're still working fine.


Holy Crap! That's amazing!

It definitely wrecks gyros. The one place I worked that had no non gyro
airplanes had one airplane ( cherokee) for spins and it's gyros barely
showed any interest at all.
I suppose it depends on the quality, but it is defnitely not an old
wives tale.


Bertie

My recollection is that a "normal" spin entry would tumble the gyros in a
150M, but not in a 152. Apparently, if my recollection of the gimbal limits
is correct, the 150 dipped through 80 degrees nose down on the entry and the
152 did not.

There seems to be a wide variation in the spin entry for various aircraft,
even when the entry is not from an accelerated stall, and there are also a
variety of non-tumbling gyros (in addition to gageable viarieties) in the GA
fleet. All of the cageable gyros that I have personally seen were the old
fashioned varieties (gull-wing horizons and those old DGs that looked like
the whiskey compass in the windshield) which would tumble on any excursion
through 60 degrees of pitch or roll if not gaged.

I have never personally seen any of the newer type gyros which were
cageable, although I presume that they exist. In any case, the newer types
(which can now be close to 40 years old) are certainly more rugged than
their predecessors.

Please treat this as a request for information and comment.

Peter