CFI’s and Spins

[RyanShort1]

Some planes are just safer than others to spin. My personal belief is that if I had every accidentally gotten myself into that corner before my CFI spin training down low, I probably wouldn't have survived. A basic introduction to the entry and recovery procedures in a simple taildragger like a Cub goes a long way towards actual spin entries being recognizable and recoverable. I don't care how many times you tell a student about pro-spin inputs, it isn't likely to click as well as showing it to them.

 

[flyingron]

Some people on here don't like stalls, either, based on a prior thread.

My wife's instructor was one of those. He never let a full stall break. My wife had me demo a few for her before she took her checkride.

 

[Ed Haywood]

When I learned to fly in the early 90's, my instructor was afraid of spins. Thus I was afraid of stalls, because he couldn't show me what happens if a stall progresses to a spin, and how to recover from it. Being afraid of stalls is not good, because the only way to recognize when you are getting close accidentally is to get close on purpose during practice.

Then I got into competition aerobatics and did hundreds of spins. Every routine includes a spin, with points deducted for each 5 degrees off heading on recovery. Sometimes a practice session would consist of nothing but spins, dozens of them, just trying to nail recovery exactly on axis. When I progressed to inverted maneuvers, I got inverted spin instruction to get used to how that felt. Pretty wild ride, BTW.

I'm not a CFI and I don't know squat about instructing, but I am a pretty good stick and rudder pilot who is very confident in my ability to recover an aircraft from any attitude. IMO if you can't recognize a developing spin, don't know how to identify direction of rotation and quickly apply anti-spin control inputs, can't sense recovery and transition into a dive, and don't have confidence in emergency spin recovery techniques such as Beggs-Mueller, you are not as competent and safe a pilot as you could be. If that bothers you, go find someone with a Citabria or Decathlon and get a few hours of dual. You'll be glad you did.

I do not trust newfangled plastic airplanes that are not certificated for stalls and spins. Also, get off my lawn.