Many years ago, long before I ever thought about being a flight
instructor, I met a commercial instrument rated pilot who flew for CAP
and would not do stalls without an instructor. I thought this was
ridiculous then. I still think it's ridiculous. Sstalls performed
properly in an appropriate aiplane should present negligible additional
risk for the proficient pilot. However, proficiency isn't what it used
to be and I am beginning to see a risk to solo stalls that wasn't there
before.

Even a perfectly flown stall has the potential for spin entry (wing
drop) if exactly the wrong gust is encountered at exactly the wrong
time, and most of us can't fly a perfect stall every time - we are all
human and make mistakes. For a proficient pilot, a spin entry is not a
big deal in most airplanes. After all, it is only the entry, and most
normal category light airplanes easily recover from the entry. It's
only once the spin starts to wind up that it becomes an issue. Of
course there are airplanes where that's not true - but most of us are
not likely to fly one.

The issue is - will you recognize the spin entry for what it is and
react appropriately? If you have been trained in full stalls, spin
entries, spins, and spin recoveries, the answer is probably yes - but
these days, many people have not been.

In the glider world, it's different. Most privately owned gliders (and
even many of the rentals!) are single seat. It's not unusual to send a
student with less than 20 hours total time off in a single seater to
check himself out. Since you have to make the first landing count,
doing some stalls to 'feel out' the handling of the glider is not
optional. Because of this, spin recovery training for glider pilots is
essentially universal. No, the FAA doesn't require it - but glider
instructors tend to be rugged individualists who feel that they know
better than the FAA what is necessary - and they tend ot be right.

In the light airplane world, things are not so good. While the FAA
mandates spin training for airplane CFI's, spins are not generally
tested on the CFI ride. As a result, the training is often cursory -
as little as three spins of one turn or less each. That's barely
enough to start feeling comfortable with the recovery, and nowhere near
enough to teach. On top of that, many of today's popular trainers
can't be spun. Spin training for the private pilot is no longer the
rule but the exception. So we have lots of pilot out there whose
knowledge of spin entry and spin recovery is extremely limited.

I'm not going to say that those people should not practice stalls solo
- everyone has a right to choose his own level of risk. I will say
that I sure wouldn't go up in an airplane with one who did, unless I
had my own set of controls. I would also not permit solo stalls for a
student who hadn't spun. When students practice stalls they somewhat
routinely botch them, and that means they're putting themselves at risk
of a spin with enough altitude to recover. I consider a spin a presolo
maneuver and a prerequisite for solo stalls.

As for myself, I don't practice stalls - but when checking myself out
in a new airplane, I do prefer to stall it before I land it.

Michael