On Tuesday, February 26, 2013 12:14:15 PM UTC-5, Bill D wrote:

My understanding of the "benign spiral" is the air brakes MUST be open to stabilize the glider and prevent over speed.

Generally, you want to make the glider as dirty as possible (gear, flaps, spoilers). The point is a descent, after all. Trim probably full aft. A little top rudder can be used to "tune" the turn rate and speed. I've convinced myself of two things w.r.t. the benign spiral in my ship: 1) it will probably work in reasonably smooth air as long as I don't pick up a load of ice, although it's going to get *really* disconcerting when the asi fails due to plugged pitot or static 2) I absolutely do not ever want to be in the position of having to do this for-real through a cloud deck, especially in NH in October (again, ice).

Evan Ludeman / T8