(Rick Macklem) wrote:

don't think for a nanosecond that anything you read will teach you
how to recover from inverted spins.

Well, yes, but it's really the visuals that tend to blow
beginner pilots away. The aircraft doesn't become emotionally
concerned because it's upside down - only the pilot does

In fact, I'd rather do an inverted spin any day, vs an upright
spin. Why? Because the rudder is in "clean air" in an inverted
spin.

The Pitts (in which I've recovered from hundreds of inverted spins)
can take up to TWO complete rotations to recover from an upright
spin. During that time, pilots can lose faith and get off the
correct rudder. However the Pitts will recover from an inverted
flat spin in ONE rotation, because the rudder is not being blanketed
by the rudder, as it is during an upright spin.

Three things you need to know about spins:

1) power is bad. Get off the power
2) stick is bad. Adverse yaw, rudder blanketing. Neutralize the
stick.
3) yaw is the problem. Fix it with rudder. I don't use the "heavy
pedal" trick, I just look across the nose. Works for me.

Give the above time to work. In a spin, you're going to be pumped,
and you're going to want to recover in a nanosecond. It doesn't work
that way. You have to give the correct inputs time to work.

As you can tell, I'm a Beggs-Mueller advocate. I'm sure you
can find aircraft types that it doesn't work in, but it sure
works well in the Pitts, which truth be known, has incredibly
docile stall/spin characteristics. Sure you can wind it up, but
it recovers just as easily as it gets into the spin. Many people
have managed to kill themselves in spins - I suspect they "froze",
which I have seen in students. This "deer-in-the-headlights" reaction
is not the optimal response to this situation.

One last comment: sometimes you will hear people talk about
the "rogue spin" they got into. Often these are beginner aerobatic
pilots, whom are perfecting the "hammerspin" which is best performed
with a metal prop.

Think about the control inputs for a hammerhead pivot: full left
rudder, full front right stick: those are perfect inputs for a
beautiful outside snap (generally only performed by Unlimited
category dot-pilots, and airshow pilots) which if performed on
the vertical downline, allows altitude to be exchanged for airspeed
which will keep that wonderful outside snap going - snaps stop when
you run out of airspeed (eg upline, buried stick).

As you might guess, I'm rather partial to outside snaps, because the
Pitts does them so well. Just like an inverted spin, the rudder is
in clean air. Outside snaps are great fun, just keep in mind your
-ve Va. One fun maneuver is a level 1/2 roll to inverted, then a push
up (half outside loop) then an outside 1/2 snap back to inverted at
the
top of the loop, then a nice pull for an inside loop downwards. Very
easy to do. It's a bit of a G-loc trap - don't do this for the first
time from the surface, because you may grey out a bit if you don't
grunt enthusiastically during the pull - but great fun nonetheless.

--
ATP www.pittspecials.com