On Thursday, 14 April 2016 05:08:12 UTC+2, Jim Lewis wrote:
My understanding is the glider will spin in the direction of the applied rudder. If that is the case then the glider will spin to the inside of the skidding turn. But, if the AoA of the inside wing is lower than the AoA of the outside wing why would the inside wing stall first and drop so the glider spins in the direction of the inside wing? I have no idea.


Kirk 66 has it wrong.
The angle of attack on the inside wing (low wing) in a banked turn is higher than the outside (high) wing. Both wings descend at the same rate but the outside wing travels further (and faster) than the inside wing.
The AoA of the inside wing is higher which is why it stalls first. Trying to pick up the inside wing with aileron only aggravates the situation because you're increasing the angle of attack of the wing tip (chord line changes) and the additional drag also holds the inside wing even further back which in turn adds pro skid yaw.

A skidding turn makes the situation even worse because now you're holding the slower inside wing back and the fuselage starts to disrupt some of the air flow to the inboard portion of the inside wing which now has to work even harder to provide the same amount of lift. In order to increase lift at a given speed you need to increase the angle of attack and this pushes the inside wing even closer to a stalled state. It all has a compounding effect when added together.

I think too much emphasis is placed on gadgetry and ideas to stop people spinning instead of training pilots to fly safer speeds.
If safe speed control is taught and adhered to then wings won't stall, and if there are no stalls there will be no spins either.
Personally I always fly at about 10 knots faster than minimum recommended approach speed (taking wind into account) in the circuit and only slow down on finals if I need to. I also thermal about 10 knots faster when I'm below 2000 feet AGL. Yes, it's less efficient but it's also safer. What I've found though is that my higher speed habits lower down become my habits higher up too. I tend to fly faster than required everywhere because flying slower feels unnatural unless it's during round out on landing.
I can live with flying less efficiently and my family won't need to hear that they just lost their husband and father due to a silly and avoidable accident.