1. all the knowledge shared when i asked about this earlier was phenomenal. thank you!!!
2. on the advice of a local fish and game pilot, i snuck off to californy to do a two day unusual attitude training. holy ****. this local pilot told me it was hands down the absolute best instruction he'd had in his career, and i have to agree. granted, my aviation career is notably (probably by a factor of 30 or 40) shorter than his, but still. wow. i'll be back next summer to complete the rest of the program (i did part 1 out of 4).
3. the falling leaf stall was positively enlightening*. in my ppl training, and other various training, it was ingrained in me that the rudder lifts the falling wing in a stall. hell, i use the rudder to lift the wing in stalls. did it in my checkride, did it while doing rental check outs, did it on my own while practicing stalls. BUT...I don't think i ever truly believed it. you know, that deep-in-the-gut sense of "yeah, this is how it works."
the falling leaf stall we did was a one shot cure.
the instructor had me grab the braces above my head and only work the rudder. note: having an excellent instructor walk me through this was no small part of why it was so effective. he held the stick aft and slowly added power to make it more entertaining. i swear, at a few points it felt like half an hour before the dropping wing came back up. but sure enough, the rudder did its job and the wing came up. that anchored it for me. rudder to pick up the wing. that's it.
4. spins. again, it'd been ingrained in me that yaw causes one wing to have more airspeed, and thus more lift. but, in hindsight, i didn't actually believe it. that got fixed
.5. skidding turns in the pattern. holy shit. again (broken record)...i was taught very thoroughly that skidding turns, especially base to final, are a no-no. we did a simulated base to final turn, skidded, spun, and recovered. i glanced at the altimeter and saw that i'd punched through 400' of earth. holy shit. no amount of verbal instruction can do that.
6. buffet. ok, not the biggest deal of all this stuff, but i get it now! we pulled into slow flight, brought it to an ALMOST stall, and the instructor took the controls and had me look at the horizontal stabilizer. that thing was shaking like a mothe--well...yeah. the air that's peeling off the upper surface of the wing is turbulent. turbulent air hits the horizontal stabilizer. that turbulent air shakes the stabilizer, and presto, buffet.
7. on one hand, i learned so much. on the other hand, i realized just how little i actually know about stall-spin dynamics. i think that realization is just as valuable as learning a little bit about how to deal with them. additionally, the training was in citabrias and decathalons, which i assume have different dynamics than my 152. how different? hmm. i'm not keen on finding out solo. at some point i would like to run though that stuff in a 152/150 though.
8. aggravated stalls. holy moly, i didn't know world could spin around that fast! kinda fun, but also oh-dear-my-morning-coffee-is-getting-awfully-frisky-down-there.
8. CP aviation in santa paula. cannot recommend them highly enough. the "EMT" program is top notch.
*i think someone, somewhere posted this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urn5cdKWPWs . great explanation of a falling leaf stall, and other stuff. highly recommended watching!
