Spinning (mis)concepts

At 18:24 27 January 2004, Mike Lindsay wrote:

3) 'Always fly flatter close to the ground' - Now here
is one that REALLY
bothers me.
This is probably the WORST misconception that insists
in lingering around
hangar talk, internet talk and in other media with
many 'experts'.
It should be replaced with 'Always fly coordinated
!' or 'Fly with the right
amount of bank for the turn you want to make'.
That's the simple, naked, honest truth.

Instilling fear of banking close to the ground is one
of the worst things
you can do to your students.
I really hate people who insist on this one.
Gliders will not Stall or Spin due to bank angles.
They will do so because
of angle of attack (pitch) not angle of bank.
Since most of us don't have an AOA indicator in our
gliders, we use Speed as
an easy way to determine it.

OTOH if you do a well banked turn close to the ground
and there is a
steepish wind gradient, its liable to be the last one
you ever do.


If you are flying on a day that has a strong wind gradient,
surely you would actually have compensated for that
with a higher approach speed? I personally have never
had any problem with steeply banked, cordinated final
turns, even under conditions of severe turbulence or
rotor. Spin and stall avoidance is all about the speed
you have. I take it from your comment you have never
explored the stalling characteristics of any aircraft
you have flown under different angles of bank?