Another stall spin

On Friday, August 31, 2012 6:11:41 PM UTC-4, kirk.stant wrote:
There seems to be some confusion in this thread about spins. A spin is a stable autorotation with the wings stalled and fairly constant airspeed. A departure is when the your glider starts to do something that you didn't tell it to do or want it to do, either because you got too slow and stalled it, or a gust upset it, whatever. A spin entry, in a glider that will actually spin (not all will), is a controlled departure held long enough to stabilize into a spin.



But a departure doesn't have to result in a spin. If corrective action is done promptly and correctly (almost always involving unloading the wing by reducing AOA), the glider will resume flying and will never get to the autorotation state. Many (most?) glass ships, unless the CG is way aft or flaps are in landing configuration, are reluctant to spin, probably due to limited elevator authority. They may depart, and if you sit there like a bump on a log and don't apply corrective action, may progress to a spin, or a spiral dive, or just recover on their own.



But if you experiment (at safe altitude) with the glider you fly, trying all it's configurations and finding out how it reacts to a departure, you will be prepared (like Bruno) to safely recover from a departure with minimum loss of altitude (or danger to your gaggle mates).



This is BASIC stuff, guys. If I'm just telling all of you what you already know, I apologize. But if you really don't understand this (and some of the discussions on RAS about AOA makes me think many don't) then please get with an acro/spin instructor and brush up.



Cheers,



Kirk

66

Maybe its not so basic, but then what do I know. If both wings are stalled, then you just have a stall, the nose drops and recovery is easily accomplished. If you stall in turning flight or uncoordinated use of controls, then the slower wing will stall and an autorotation will commence. The outer wing is not stalled. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Tom