Ed,

You have got several things exactly right.

1. Before a glider can be in an inadvertent full spin, the pilot has to
get the following things wrong:

Fail to avoid the stall/spin altogether,
Fail to recognise that the glider is starting to stall/spin,
Or fail to use the correct recovery after recognising that it
has started to stall/spin.

2. There are times in every flight when a failure to avoid will be
disaster, and recovery is academic.

3. The standard BGA instruction does not give enough emphasis on or
satisfactory methods for avoiding altogether.

Ask most pilots and most instructors how to avoid, and they will give
the symptoms for recognising that the glider is already too close to
the stall and recovery action is already required.

Most pilots and instructors just do not understand the difference
between avoidance and recognition.

4. Gliders can depart into a spin entry without any of the symptoms
normally taught for recognising the approaching stall , except for
stick movement and position.

For the pilot, one moment it is flying normally, the next it is
pointing at the ground and rotating.

This can happen inadvertently to a glider which cannot be made to do
this deliberately.

5. The stall/spin occurs whenever, and only when, the angle of attack is
too high. The angle of attack is controlled by the elevator i.e. the
stick.

Moving the stick back, increasing angle of attack:
A long way back, angle of attack is high;
On the back stop, stall position.

Recovery depends on reducing the angle of attack, no reduction, no
recovery. Without a forward movement of the stick, recovery may not
be possible.

6. It should be a standard part of all handling instruction to teach
pupils to monitor stick position and movement.

This can and should be taught ahead of and parallel to monitoring
attitude and change of attitude This must be kept to the forefront
of the pupil's mind throughout training.

Only collision avoidance is more important than angle of attack (and
loss of control due to a stall/spin can lead to a collision).

7. Spinning is an aerobatic manoeuvre, some pilots do them for fun.
Instructors should only spin as required for instruction, and not use
instruction as an excuse for aerobatics. Aerobatic instruction is a
different thing altogether.

8. Whenever there is an accident or incident involving a stall/spin, the
first questions which should be asked a

If inadvertent, why did the pilot fail to avoid?
If deliberate, why was this exercise in this manner necessary?

Fly safe, avoid stalling!

Bill.

W.J. (Bill) Dean (U.K.).
Remove "ic" to reply.


"Edward Downham" wrote in message
...

If I took charge of a gliding club using Puchacz(s) for basic training,
the first thing I would do is pile them all in a heap in the corner of the
field and set fire to them.

This may come across as something of a controversial viewpoint. Let me
explain.

As far as I know, we are now into double figures (in the UK alone) in
terms of fatalities when it comes to stall/spin accidents in the Puchacz.
Compare this to gliders like the twin Grob and K-21: there are far greater
numbers of them flying many times more hours with a much better record.
Even older machines such as the K-13 stand out well in comparison.

I really can't see the advantage of a training glider that spins so
readily and kills you if you get the recovery (slightly) wrong.

I think some of the instructing fraternity (in the UK) have become too
focussed on spinning as an 'exercise' and not something to be avoided. I
believe that if a significant group of pilots are having _inadvertent_
stall/spin incidents/accidents when they are flying solo, then there is
something very very wrong with the most elementary training we are giving.

I read and hear much concerning technical details of spinning, i.e. what
glider X does after 5 turns with part aileron and that glider Y flicks
when you yank and stamp on the controls. All fairly irrelevant. If you
get to the point of having to do a full recovery one might question as to
how you got there in the first place. If you are low down (especially in
machines like the Puchacz), where most bad accidents occur, knowing how to
recover from a spin is probably not going to be of much use. Indeed, it
may help to make the subsequent impact unsurviveable.

What we seem to be failing to do is to instil a basic awareness of what
the glider is up to, and the _instinctive_ reactions required if the
airframe stops responding to your commands. Mike Cuming wrote a seminal
article in S&G, some years back, entitled: "STOP PULLING THE STICK
BACK!". This should be required reading for all pre-solo students.

If you really want to show people full-blooded spins and recoveries, take
them up to a safe height in an aerobatic power aircraft, certified for
those kind of manoeuvres. You will be able to do much more for a lot
less
money.

Frankly, I see little point in making pilots deliberately demonstrate
their 'expertise' in abusing a glider to the point it autorotates, then
attempting to do something about it. This is not the world aerobatic
championships. I would much rather see immediate instinctive corrections
to any possible loss of control.

To the experienced pilots/instructors reading this: when was the last time
you ended up (inadvertently) in a spin? Yes, you get wing drops in
thermals etc. but do you sit there, doing nothing, until the ground and
sky start going round very fast? No. I'm sure you don't, as you are
alive to read this.

What drove me to stay up at night to write this post was a feeling of
anger/helplessness/sadness that yet more people have died in what I regard
as a pointless exercise. I knew the P1 in the double-fatal crash this
week but not his fifteen year old student.

Safe flying to all of you.