Puchacz spinning

There have been a significant number of accidents involving the glider
spinning into the ground. Many of these accidents have occurred with
experienced pilots/instructors on board. Unfortunately the only people who
could positively tell you what went wrong cannot. I almost all cases, where
the spin in has been fatal the assumption has been made that the pilot(s)
screwed up.
Given the common knowledge of the nature of spinning a Puch I find it
difficult to believe that. There is another explanation that there are
certain conditions of loading/other factors that make recovery from a spin
in a Puchacz impossible, no-one wants to accept that for obvious reasons.
The truth is we do not know but continue to make potentially dangerous
assumptions.
My solution personally is:

a. I do not fly a Puchacz if I can help it.
b. If I do I do not attempt to spin it and discourage others from doing
so.
c. If I am ever in a Puchacz that is spinning if recovery to controlled
flight has not been achieved by 2000ft agl I will leave.
d. If a spin is entered below 2000ft agl I will leave immediately, that
discourages others from deliberate spinning with me on board, especially if
I am in the front seat.

Please note that I am not saying that a Puchacz is dangerous per se, or
that the glider is impossible to recover from a spin under certain
circumstances, just that I am not going to hang about to find out. Has
worked for me, so far.

Ahhh... "Puchacz vs. spinning". I love the classics!

Here's a thread from 1998 with 130+ posts on the subject: https://groups.google.com/d/topic/re...yPA/discussion.

....and another from 1999 with 32 posts: https://groups.google.com/d/topic/re...b0E/discussion

I'm sure there are more.

Cheers,
-Mark Rebuck

At 14:34 15 July 2014, wrote:
Ahhh... "Puchacz vs. spinning". I love the classics!

Here's a thread from 1998 with 130+ posts on the subject:
https://groups.google.com/d/topic/re...yPA/discussion.

....and another from 1999 with 32 posts:
https://groups.google.com/d/topic/re...b0E/discussion

I'm sure there are more.

Cheers,
-Mark Rebuck

Indeed. I think I'll pass on joining the discussion on this one again. I am
sure we can at least agree that we will disagree on the subject ;-)