I recently completed Spin Endorsement Training for my CFI rating where I had to demonstrate and recover from 5 spins to the left, and 5 to the right for the endorsement (performed in a Citabria with 'chutes). Two thoughts from my humble opinion:
1) At 250hrs ish TT, this was the first time I had experienced spins & spin recovery firsthand (not just reading about and discussing) and think it's INSANE that the FAA does not require any actual spin recovery training until the CFI level- what about all the Private, Instrument & Commercially rated pilots that never pursue instructing?
2) Doing spins on leson five of the Private curriculum is just plain irresponsible CFI'ing. However, I do think S.E.T. should become mandatory training for the PRIVATE rating, performed in proper equipment with a competent instructor, towards the latter part of the syllabus as the student progresses towards rating completion and eternal PIC status...

 

Spin training was removed from the curriculum and standards for pilot training because it was found that more incidents and mishaps occurred as a result of training than occurred outside training. In other words, training was inducing a negative impact and actually resulting in more crashes and fatalities.

It is possible to enter an unrecoverable state in a spin. I believe it was Bob Hoover that stated that he would never spin an airplane again, and even the world record holder (Art Scholl) who specialized in spins was killed in San Diego in an inverted flat spin (his speciality) while filming the movie Top Gun. Spinning can be fun, but it can also be dangerous, and introducing it early in pilot training for civil training proved unwarranted, and it does more to frighten students than it does to educate them...particularly with instructors whose only experience is a few spins during their training.

If someone wants spin training, they should seek it at an aerobatic facility.

As previously noted, it's very possible to enter a spin at an altitude from which recovery is not possible. The classic location is a base to final turn, which might be 500-1000' AGL in many cases in a light airplane. Given that the first turn of a spin in many light airplanes will result in 1000' of altitude loss through the recovery, it's far more important to focus on preventing the spin, which is identification and recovery from an incipient or stalled condition, and on "coordination," rather than spinning airplanes. Where they're most likely to be found, they're also impossible to recover in many cases. Ergo, avoid the spin, rather than recover. That's the logic.

There's value to be had in spin training, but a spin, its recovery, its evolution when it occurs, and its complications, are considerably more involved than what you may think, based on having done five turns to the left and five to the right.

I strongly suggest that you pick up a copy of John Lowry's Anatomy of a Spin, for a quick primer on spin dynamics. They are complex. Particularly when you begin to understand the impact of various control inputs which may aid, delay, or further complicate the spin recovery or condition, or prevent it.

Also visit Rich Stowell's site, and review his materials (for purchase).

It's important to understand that while most schools teach a simple inside-departure which mimics a slow entry into the spin in the direction of rudder input, outside departures are not uncommon for inadvertent spin entries, especially in accelerated stalls and uncoordinated flight, and can cause very rapid departures; one is turning left, but the spin snaps right, for example, and rolls "over the top," often complicated by aileron input (and some spin evolutions in some aircraft may require aileron input, into, or away from the direction of rotation).

As you might see, spin instruction can and is considerably more complicated than you might imagine from having done ten spins under very controlled circumstances. For these reasons, and others, spin training isn't part of the requirement for pilot training, and is only presently required for instructors. Add to that the fact that spins are very hard on gyro instruments and most schools would prefer their aircraft not be used for spins. Additionally, most rental aircraft and training aircraft are approved for spins only in the utility envelope, which limits the circumstances under which they may be spun; what a student might think is acceptable in the rental 172, loaded with instructor and student in the front seat, isn't acceptable with passengers in the back.

Definitely stow and secure all that equipment on board. The cockpit should be freshly vacuumed, too.

 

True story from my story book:

Once upon a time had an instructor come see me with concerns about his student. Short version, his student was pushing him for a checkride sign off and he didn’t feel he was ready.
Asked me to fly with him and give my verdict. So I said ok, if he flies within Private Pilot PTS will you sign him off?
Instructor says yes.
Flight scheduled and I briefed the student extensively on how and what and where and when. Went through the PTS with him and he and I agreed that if he flew within the PTS he would get his sign off and if he did not he would agree to further training required.

Off we go in a C172SP.
He did ok, nothing spectacular but ok.
Power off stall was decent and I asked him for a Power on or departure stall.
When he selected full flap I had a suspicion this was going to get interesting. We were at 4500’ and as he went full power he didn’t add enough right rudder.
So he keeps pulling back as I see the sky sliding by in what is now a shallow bank left climbing turn.
Stall horn, little airframe tremor and we snaprolled to the right over the high wing.
As we went inverted I saw the panic in his eyes.
Not fear.....panic.
Pure unadulterated panic of death in his eyes.
I recovered and once wings level I asked him what he thought happened.
He said I don’t know.
I asked him if he wanted to continue the flight and he said no.
I flew us back in silence.
He settled his account and left to never come back.
His instructor asked what happened.
I said he realized he would have died today.

 

F-14 is a big fighter, but not a big airplane in general, especially in the sense JB was a speaking about typically not stalling or spinning “big airplanes” IMO. Since the rockets motors that jettisoned the canopy did so away from the path of the seats (0/0 ejection capability), the whole jettisoning straight up in a ‘flat spin’ and the seats running into them is bit of movie magic.

 

I was one who bemoaned the exclusion of spins from the PPL syllabus, but once I gained more experience I understood why.

There is nothing keeping a freshly minted Private Pilot from seeking out more extensive stall/spin/and aerobatic training the very next day if one should chose.

 

The canopy system on the F14 did not work that way. In a flat spin the nose would occilate and it was possible to have canopy hitting the seat issues. Hence the requirement to manually jettison the canopy first. The F14 has a wingspan the same as a B17 and weighs as much as some early DC9 aircraft.

 

So you are saying the seats in even the later versions weren’t 0/0 capable? Yes.....I said it was a big fighter; too big in some respects and a beast in others.

I nothing nothing about the requirement to manually jettison the canopy in certain situations (not my aircraft), but it wasn’t favorite for many years.

 

corrected link for easy access:

https://www.faa.gov/about/office_org...rpretation.pdf

 

Like I mentioned in an earlier post, I didn’t know what I didn’t know about flying prior to starting. Even though I’m still as such a basic level, I can not believe how complicated flying is. All the things to be keeping in check, etc. I can’t believe that FO’s at regionals a few years back were only making 25k-28k per year starting off, given the training, skill and responsibility they have. I mean you could make that working at a fast food joint.

What really blows my mind is thinking about some young kids in WW1 learning to fly and then going off to war when man kind was still in infancy with aircrafts. Also, a young man training in WW2 to go off and fly in the pacific or Europe. Pretty unbelievable.

But I guess like with anything, practice will make you better. I am flying 3-4 days per week to try and not have too many gaps between flying.

Today was steep turns. My right hand steep turns were fairly decent for a noobie. I struggled to maintain altitude in my left hand steep turns. I was not using enough back pressure.

 

There is a big difference between a aircraft sitting on the ground or in a level attitude verses the dynamics of a airborne aircraft. Zero zero is true only for specifics set of conditions. Each seat has a ejection envelope. Depending on airspeed, attitude and vertical speed the seat may or may not be capable of a zero zero ejection. Out of envelope ejections are why 1 out of 5 attempts ends in a fatality.