Stefan writes
Wrong. Neither of the two would have done any damage. They broke the
glider by doing both things at the same time.

No. With the Spanish tragedy the pilots didn't open the airbrakes but
the P1 broke the wings by pulling back too hard. Presumably it wasn't
necessarily Vne that broke the wings but excessive load (pulling back
too hard in a panic) once past maximum maneuvouring speed? Given the
P1's self-confessed lack of currency in spin-training (paraphrased from
memory; "did it once twenty years ago and swore never again") is it fair
to say that without the panic from an unpractised situation the spin and
resulting dive recovery might not have broken the wings? Limiting your
spin recovery to just pulling back hard is going to have unfortunate
consequences which ever way it turns out. That said, it was a terrible
thing to happen and my heart really does go out to the pilot and his
family.

The Minden tragedy involved opened airbrakes which in turn contributed
to breaking the wing. Still from pulling back too hard, but in quite
different circumstances where "too hard" might not have been so apparent
because of the reduction in wing area and thus perceived wing-loading.
But had the airbrakes not been out the wing might have sustained the
load. Though Vne may then have been passed.

So it would seem the answer is to not open the airbrakes but respect the
yellow band on your ASI when loading the aircraft with g. Even if this
means passing through Vne?

Or, if you do open the airbrakes in a last ditch attempt to avoid
breaching Vne be even more respectful with the loading when pulling out
of the dive. But, between the devil and the deep blue sea you're better
off not having stepped out onto the gunwale in the first place


--
Bill Gribble
http://www.scapegoatsanon.demon.co.uk
- Learn from the mistakes of others.
- You won't live long enough to make all of them yourself.