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June 19, 2002 - Last New Thing
Today we practiced stalls from a turn. This was the last "new"
maneuver. With this we have now officially covered everything in the
required training. Stalls from a turn are the closest we get to doing
spins in private pilot training. We don't come near a spin - but this
maneuvers is the closest to a spin we get. A spin happens when you are
turning (rolling technically) at the point of a stall and don't correct the
turn. The stall itself can cause the turning but most spins result from a
stall during a turn. The natural tendency to counteract a turn is to roll
the ailerons the other way. However, in a stall because of the way the air
is flowing this causes our turn to steepen and if uncorrected a spin results.
A spin is worse than a simple stall for several reasons. You loose a lot
more altitude more quickly, you end up going a lot faster - to the point of
exceeding maximum speed on the airframe, and you can end up in a situation where
the controls on the aircraft are not capable of recovering from the flight
condition. Spins are bad and are one of the leading causes of fatal GA
crashes - especially at low altitude. At higher altitude many so called
"spins" are really "graveyard spirals". A graveyard spiral isn't a spin in
that the aircraft has never stalled and therefore has been in controlled flight
the whole time. Correction is easier but uncorrected the result is the
same - rapid vertical descent ending either with ground impact or breaking up of
the aircraft above VNE.
So we practice stalling in a turn so that we really get a feel for having to
stand on that opposite rudder to counteract the turning tendencies. We also
did some good hood time. Remember I said that this was the one item I was
a little short on my required time for. After my long cross-country solo I
will have enough hours and such to fulfill every minimum requirements for flight
training except I'm a little short on simulated instrument time (2.2 hours
before today). With today I'm at 2.5. I need at least 3.0 and I
should get .5 or so during my Stage III check ride. At worst I'll end up
.1 or .2 short which will be easy to make up during one of my final dual
sessions. After this long solo coming up this weekend I'll be pretty much set
for Stage III check - it's just a matter of having my maneuvers to the level of
polish needed to meet the FAA standards. We'll see... |
