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.

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.

Marc