"Marc Ramsey" wrote in message
om...
Chris Nicholas wrote:

Marc Ramsey wrote:
"OK, I'm curious. How many of you have had to recover
from a fully developed (greater than one turn), unintentional
spin that occurred during normal non-aerobatic flight?" [snip]

Not me personally, but I have known, or known of, several pilots who
did. Most died, after cable breaks, mismanaged aftermath, and spins
into the ground from about 600 feet. Of two who survived, one couldn't
explain why he didn't effect prompt recovery - has since given up
gliding. The other I referred to earlier - didn't realise it was a
spin, thought tail had come off.

What I asked is if anyone here has properly recognized a spin entry,
immediately attempted recovery, and not been able to do so in well under
a turn. For my own education, I would like to know the circumstances.

Not yet

You may not get many first person replies, because those who did are
mostly no longer with us. I would hope our training regimes strive to
prevent too many more, not only by Eric Greenwell's 4, 3 and 2 (which
I entirely support) but also by 1, time and again, until people no
longer fail to realise what they have done when they somehow skip over
4, 3, and 2, stop panicking, and can recover.

I feel that I, personally, benefit a great deal more from practicing to
properly recognize and recover from a spin entry immediately, than I do
from practicing initiating a spin, holding it for a few turns, then
recovering.

I get occasional incipient entries while thermaling, but was, I believe,
properly trained to recognize and respond appropriately, so none have
developed into full spins inadvertantly. I do practice this regularly also
and do a 1-2 turn spin from time to time.

The Brits had a training concept when I initially learned to soar, 'recovery
from unusual attitudes'. The instructor would but the glider in an awkward
attitude and allow the student to recover to straight and level. Could be
nose up, down, cross controls, whatever. The important part was the proper
input to get things back in control.

I recall one odd day when flying my SHK not too far off the Anglia coast. I
think the air had a bit of shear. I went to turn to the left, but the
glider definitely wanted to roll right. Speed was fine, but I had the
distinct impression that the air was rolling or in vertical shear in a
clockwise direction. After a few seconds things went back to normal, but
for a bit I thought I'd flick over the top of the turn and I really wasn't
looking forward to it.

Frank Whiteley


Frank