What about the fact that we expose ourselves to 1,000,000's of
instances of instinctively responding to the string by stepping in the
direction the front end points to? Would that not lead to some kind of
conditioning that will have disasrtous results (i.e. pro-spin rudder)
when making a visual reference to the string, while spinning
unexpectedly and under stress?

There will have to be some very well rehearsed routine about this, and
regular practice.

Any human factors specialist out there ?

Vassilios