Hi Mark!

On Sat, 02 Apr 2005 22:25:42 -0500, Mark Morissette
Curious why are you doing spins in a 172? Your own plane?

It is available, and yes, we own it...

Besides it not being allowed unless you are in the Utility W&B
envelope, from everything I've read and understand the 172 is not a
great plane for spin training regardless.

Correct, the 152 is a far better A/C for this...

It is ONLY spun well inside the "utility" cat...

The flightschool I'm at won't allow spin training in their 172's
regardless of W&B within utility... 152's are mandatory when that
portion of the curriculum arrives.

- you don't get "tossed around" inside the aircraft.

True, although I wouldn't leave my kneeboard or a pen loose in the
cockpit during spins, regardless.

ALL loose anything is left in the hanger!


- It is gentle on the aircraft...

Well, I could debate that one..

OK !

- Is a non issue with modern gyros

From everything I've read, true.

-The g's on recovery seldom exceed 1.5 G's...

Again, from student to student that could change.. With a good
recovery and plenty of alt, that sounds about right.. I'd be surprised
if I pulled more then 1.5 on the recovery...however, my CFI has
apparently had some "not so pretty" recoveries that resulted in not so
pretty recoveries, which probably exceeded 1.5g by a sizable margin.

Agreed!

We "practice" spins in the 172, we DO NOT train anyone in it..

Now, this is not often, maybe a couple of spins each every 2 -3
months or so. We just unload the plane of loose gear, and head to a
designated practice area and practice steep turns, stalls, spins and
forced approaches. We are quite hard on each other, and every so
often take an instructor along. Like most of us, we feel we don't fly
enough to stay "nifty" with any aircraft, so we go for flights like
this every so often...




Cheers!

Dave