Spins, Spiral Dives and Training

On Jul 2, 9:09*am, T8 wrote:
Okay guys, here's your new thread. *Please...

Del asks "how well will pilots react if they unexpectedly get into a
spin or a spiral dive? Normally you gird your loins up first before
doing a deliberate spin!"

Answer: this depends on the pilot, of course. *By the time you are
gaggle flying, thermaling up off ridges or flying in competition it
damned well better be automatic, reflexive.

The only point to doing deliberate spins by stalling straight ahead
and kicking rudder is to get some sense of how the sailplane behaves
and what it takes to recover from a fully developed spin. *It might
also help you develop some sense of spin entry feel, but unintentional
spins normally come from some combination of turning, skidding flight,
gusts, etc. *Oh, there's also the famous pilot who transitioned from
15m to std class and early on charged into a gaggle, pulled up,
reached for the "flap" handle and spun out of the gaggle with spoilers
deployed. *UH, hUH! *But I won't mention any names :-). *I love that
story.

What you should practice is realistic spin entries from thermaling
turns and simulated pattern turns gone bad. *Do 'em in all aircraft
configurations. *In flapped ships the behavior changes quite a lot.
If you are fooling with CG location, check that out too. *Your
responses can and should become fast and accurate. *You should do this
until you aren't "girding your loins", you aren't tense. *No panic.
Aircraft departs controlled flight: so what, you deal with it, get it
back.

regards,

Evan Ludeman / T8

One of the scariest experiences I ever had was an inadvertant spin in
a 2-place Fox. It's an aerobatic glider by design, with limited
washout and anhedral, so it's not exactly typical of your modern
racing gliders. The owner had asked me to fly with him to improve
his thermalling skills. We went up on a booming day, and "I got it"
at about 4,000. "Now, first thing we need to do is to slow it down a
little bit ... like this... Then, we increase the bank a little bit
like this.. Now, if we get a good bump we just wait for a one-
Mississippi, then tighten up the turn using whatever it takes like
th....... WOA, WHAT THE...." Sky and earth reversed and we're
spinning like a top. Now, at that time I was flying about 130-150
hrs per year including instructing at least every weekend. I was just
about as current and ready as you could be. Yet, it took me a good
couple of seconds to sort things out. In the Swift, it's no big
deal, since it has a VNE of something approaching Mach 1.0, but I'll
tell you that it wasn't pretty. The owner (a very experienced
aerobatic competitor) just sat there up front chuckling.

The message here isn't about the Swift and it's nasty spinning
habits. It's about the fact that we probably ALL get a little
complacent from time to time. When we change some variables (in the
case above, a new ship with very different handling
characteristics), we probably don't realize how unprepared we are
for the consequences. Whenever I fly my LS8, I'm always greatful
for what a wonderful handling airplane it is. However, add some
water, fly on a turbulent day, get a little too aggressive on thermal
entry, and it will remind you fairly forcefully, that you've exceeded
its limitations. I suspect that we all need to spend more time
CONSCIOUSLY practicing flight at the edges of the controllable regime
in various configurations on a much more frequent basis. Short
wings without water. Short wings with water. Long wings without
water. Divebrakes in. Divebrakes out. Flaps positive. Flaps
negative. Whatever. In some regimes, our pussycats are more like a
wildcat, and we need to be able to recognize the onset of bad behavior
before it gets out of control.

P3

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/e...et/6905327.stm