"Marc Ramsey" wrote in message
m...
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?

I've got close to 1000 hours in roughly 25 different types of single
seat and higher performance two seat gliders, with stall/spin
characteristics ranging from "benign" to "interesting", and while I've
had my share of accidental spin entries (all while thermaling in
turbulent conditions), I can't remember a single one that went beyond a
quarter turn before recovery.

Where I first learned to fly gliders, everyone went up in for a single
flight in a 2-32 to do their "spin training" prior to solo. The 2-32
spins quite nicely, but the whole thing was such a bizarrely alien
experience, that was seemingly irrelevant to "normal" flying.

I experienced much more relevant spin training when I was being checked
out in a K-13 a few years later. We had about 8000 feet to waste, so
the instructor had me to set up a moderately banked turn, feed in a bit
of extra bottom rudder, then asked me to see how slowly I could fly.
After the "what the f*ck" moment as the ground and sky swapped places, I
managed to recover in a turn or so. He spent the rest of the flight
showing me how to induce and recognize different kinds of spin entries,
and how to recover from them as quickly as possible.

These days, at the beginning of each season, I make sure I have the spin
recovery procedure in the manual memorized, and try various types of
spin entries with slightly delayed recovery (roughly one quarter to one
half turn). When I first fly with water, I do the same. I have not
tried fully developed spins in any glider I've owned, other than my
DG-303 Acro. Some have been placarded against spins, in the others, I
just haven't felt it to be necessary or appropriate.

Marc

It's never happened to me, but I have observed two spins all the way to the
ground. In neither case was it obvious that the pilots were making any
attempt to stop the spin.

One was a Stan Hall Cherokee - a wood and fabric homebuilt single seater.
It made at least 20 turns before impact. The spin looked normal to me but
some people speculated that the CG was too far aft. The pilot survived with
serious injuries. He said that, "it just got away from me while
thermalling".

The other was a LK-10 (Wood and fabric two seater built for the US military
during WWII). It spun off the top of a winch launch at Torry Pines and went
at least 6 normal looking turns to impact. Neither occupant survived.

Bill Daniels