My problem with the PA 38 was the number of control wheels
that broke. I heard of CFI carrying Vise-Grips to use in an
emergency. Look the AD up.



"Dave Doe" wrote in message
. nz...
| In article ,
lefty133
| @bellsouth.net says...
| "Ron Wanttaja" wrote in
message
| news | On Sun, 15 Oct 2006 16:23:36 -0400, Stubby
| wrote:
|
| I just got back from my spin training for my
CFI....
|
| Yup. Should be a requirement before PPL.
|
| I believe it was required long ago, perhaps 30
years. I had a bit of
| spin work in the glider. It might be required.
It was fun!
|
| Yeah, was eliminated in the late '60s, I think. Basic
reason, IIRC, is
| that the
| number of casualties that occurred during training
were thought to be
| about
| equal to the additional spin fatalities if training
WEREN'T required.
| Since
| most stall/spin accidents occur at very low altitudes
(the base-to-final
| turn,
| usually) the FAA decided to emphasize stall
recognition/avoidance,
| instead.
|
| True "spin" accidents (those that occur at high enough
altitudes to
| recover and
| not associated with any physical problem with the
airplane) are quite
| rare.
| Canada still requires spin training, and I understand
their stall/spin
| accident
| rate is about the same as the US.
|
| Ron Wanttaja
|
| Back in the early '80s, spin training was not required
and was only
| marginally available. When I demanded it, after getting
a little too close
| for comfort on a final turn in the PA-38 Tomohawk, I had
to interview more
| than one additional instructor before I found one who
was comfortable doing
| spins.
|
| IMHO the important point was that, once I was
comfortable about the spin
| entry, it was almost ridiculously easy to fly away from
an incipient spin in
| the C-150M and C-152. After getting over the initial
discomfort, I found
| that recovery during the first half turn used very
little altitude and
| recovering on point after 2 or 3 turns became easy.
Both Cessna models
| recovered very sharply on command and could have easily
been flown away from
| a spin entry at below 300 feet.
|
| At that time, I was unable to find an instructor who was
comfortable in the
| PA-38. It remains my opinion that they simply lacked
training and
| experience with the aircraft; and therefore believed the
scare stories which
| circulated. It certainly was no less controllable, and
had no less rudder
| authority during a stall. Remember that there still a
lot of pilots who
| believe that turning a twin toward an inoperative engine
is less safe than
| "Russian Roulette" with 2 cartridges in the ol'
wheel-gun.
|
| I think the problem probably lies with an instructor that
doesn't mind
| the physical sense of spinning in a Traumahawk
|
| (that's the trouble I had). BTW, I got an instructor to
put the a/c in
| a spin and recover under the hood - on one session. My
recoverys were a
| bit steep (I *tried* to allow for the instrument lag,
honest!) But I'm
| really glad I did that exercise.
|
| --
| Duncan