Don,

The German DG500 pilots escaped serious injury because, being so low, they
didn't have that far to fall when the spin developed. Also DG gliders have
crash resistant cockpits. Even so I bet that hurt!

If you are in a full spin, you are decending at 50-60 knots or
5000ft/min+, which is probably enough to kill you. It certainly killed a
former syndicate partner of mine who spun off a slow autotow launch at
about 800ft and failed to make any sort of recovery. Once in a fully
developed spin it probably matters not if you spin into the ground, or
dive into it. If you have enough height to do so, it is better to recover
because you then stand a very good chance of staying alive.

I have already pointed out that you cannot afford to spin once down to
circuit height, so you have to have to fly accurately at a safe airspeed.


Derek Copeland


At 22:45 04 July 2009, Don Johnstone wrote:
At 19:45 04 July 2009, Derek Copeland wrote:
Nevertheless, if you get into an accidental spin, you have to make a
recovery or die, whether or not the aircraft is certified for
deliberate
spinning.

I have to take issue with that statement which nicely illustrates my
point. Knowing any recovery technique is not going to help you at all if
you spin from a low final turn, the only thing that will save you is
recognising what is happening and stopping it happening.

I would go further and say that recovery in such a situation should not
be
attempted. If you look at the video you see that the glider hit wingtip
first, which is what wound up the rotational speed, and then the nose
impacted, much of the impact was absorbed by this process and the crew
survived.
If you imagine the situation where the glider is just a little higher
and
recovery is attempted and part suceeds, what is the first thing that
stops, the rotation so instead of impacting the ground and having some
of
the the impact energy absorbed the glider hits the ground, nose first,
accelerating, known as tent pegging I believe. This is very bad news for
the crew and yet we quite happily consider recovery from spinning of
greater importance than recognition of the early signs and prevention.

Knowing the spin recovery procedure would have been of no use whatsoever
to the crew of the glider in the video.