Going for a spin
Kevin and I went out in one of our club 172s so I could get the required spin endorsement for my flight instructor license.
I'd never spun an airplane before so I wasn't sure what to expect. Kevin had soothed my fears a bit by explaining that 172s just don't spin very aggressively. Matter of fact, they can be difficult to spin at all.
It's a different story, I'm told, in something like a Cessna 150 or a dedicated aerobatic airplane, which spin quite readily.
As it turned out, spins in the 172 were interesting, although sort of anti-climatic.
The only way I could get our 172 to spin was to fly it into a stall, stomp full left rudder when the stall started to develop then give it a shot of power to get more air flowing over the rudder. That set up enough yaw that the airplane would actually enter a spin, albeit in a fairly lazy fashion.
I'd had visions of the wing snapping over instantly followed by an absurdly fast rotation, which wasn't the case at all. It just sort of hung there and reluctantly started to spin nice and slowly. The ground did fill the windscreen, which was initially unnerving, but the spin itself was nice and gentle.
If getting the airplane into a spin was hard, getting out of one was absurdly simple.
The standard spin recovery technique is P.A.R.E. (Power to idle, ailerons neutral, rudder opposite the direction of rotation and forward elevator.)
In the 172, the first time I got it into a spin I subconsciously released just a bit of back pressure on the elevator, which was enough to break the stall and the airplane just sort of flew itself out.
The next time I concentrated on holding the rudder full left and made sure to hold the elevator back to the stop to see if I could get the spin to continue for a full rotation. No dice. Even with me holding full pro-spin control inputs the 172 would just fly itself out after three-quarters of a turn.
I managed to get a spin to the right started, again by blasting some power just as the stall developed and kicking full right rudder, but the airplane just started flying itself out after a quarter turn.
The 172 is a beauty of an airplane. It's hard to get into a spin (I think you'd have to be totally asleep to get into one by mistake) and just sort of flies itself out. Obviously all airplanes are different, but my thanks to the folks at Cessna for designing a nice, safe airplane.
Anyhow, we completed the tasks for the spin endorsement and flew home slightly disappointed.
When I get some spare cash I'm going to take some aerobatic lessons. I'd love to see how an airplane built for the task spins (and rolls, and loops) because even our lackadaisical spins in the 172 were kinda fun.
I'd never spun an airplane before so I wasn't sure what to expect. Kevin had soothed my fears a bit by explaining that 172s just don't spin very aggressively. Matter of fact, they can be difficult to spin at all.
It's a different story, I'm told, in something like a Cessna 150 or a dedicated aerobatic airplane, which spin quite readily.
As it turned out, spins in the 172 were interesting, although sort of anti-climatic.
The only way I could get our 172 to spin was to fly it into a stall, stomp full left rudder when the stall started to develop then give it a shot of power to get more air flowing over the rudder. That set up enough yaw that the airplane would actually enter a spin, albeit in a fairly lazy fashion.
I'd had visions of the wing snapping over instantly followed by an absurdly fast rotation, which wasn't the case at all. It just sort of hung there and reluctantly started to spin nice and slowly. The ground did fill the windscreen, which was initially unnerving, but the spin itself was nice and gentle.
If getting the airplane into a spin was hard, getting out of one was absurdly simple.
The standard spin recovery technique is P.A.R.E. (Power to idle, ailerons neutral, rudder opposite the direction of rotation and forward elevator.)
In the 172, the first time I got it into a spin I subconsciously released just a bit of back pressure on the elevator, which was enough to break the stall and the airplane just sort of flew itself out.
The next time I concentrated on holding the rudder full left and made sure to hold the elevator back to the stop to see if I could get the spin to continue for a full rotation. No dice. Even with me holding full pro-spin control inputs the 172 would just fly itself out after three-quarters of a turn.
I managed to get a spin to the right started, again by blasting some power just as the stall developed and kicking full right rudder, but the airplane just started flying itself out after a quarter turn.
The 172 is a beauty of an airplane. It's hard to get into a spin (I think you'd have to be totally asleep to get into one by mistake) and just sort of flies itself out. Obviously all airplanes are different, but my thanks to the folks at Cessna for designing a nice, safe airplane.
Anyhow, we completed the tasks for the spin endorsement and flew home slightly disappointed.
When I get some spare cash I'm going to take some aerobatic lessons. I'd love to see how an airplane built for the task spins (and rolls, and loops) because even our lackadaisical spins in the 172 were kinda fun.
posted by Will at 9:22 PM
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