Don Johnstone writes
: Spot on Ian. The rules for the Air Cadets in the
UK,
RAF rules, prohibit intentional spinning below 2500ft
in a glider. If you are still spinning you abandon
at this height
How many gliders will not recover from a spin with
2,500' to spare?
Nobody living can answer that question
But by far the greater weight of living people can demonstrate that the
glider will recover from a spin if you have 2500' to spare. In my case,
for example, all of my own spin training and personal practice has been
done from a height somewhat less than this.
What are the injury rates for parachute jumps from
gliders?
How many people survive spinning in?
How many recorded instances are there of gliders spinning in from 2500'
? In how many of those cases was there absolutely no suggestion that
something else had put the glider into an untenable position and so
prevented recovery?
Although I fully appreciate ill-founded wisdom of initiating a low spin
even for training purposes, surely nobody would argue that demonstration
of spinning and tuition and practice in recovering from such an event
isn't a vital part of ab-inito training?
Yet my own ab-inito training was from a winch site across a British
winter, so the vast majority of my training flights never exceeded 2000'
agl, and they only made that on an especially good day. All of my spin
practice occurred between 1000' and 1600'. And still does, for the most
part.
I just can't imagine abandoning a glider at 2500' because of a spin, at
least not without other contributing factors. Perhaps if I'd initiated
the spin at such a height that I'd had a few rotations of being unable
to recover by that stage and I was convinced that further attempts to
recover would be futile? But I'd be jumping on the assumption that the
glider was broke, not because it was spinning.
--
Bill Gribble
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