I had been wanting to take some spin training for awhile now and finally found the time and good weather to get r done. Wow! I had so much fun and really learned alot. Not nearly as scarry as I imagined and I was able to easily and quickly recover every one. Did about 7. Also did some mild aerobatics. I could easily get addicted to that but $$$$$ holds me back. If you ever find yourself feeling like you are stuck in a rut, go out and do some aerobatics (with instructor of course) it's guaranteed to put a smile on your face. I was pumped for two days.

Since your in Alabama, did you happen to take your instruction with Aaron at Acro Air?

Yes, His name was Aaron based at MDQ. It was in a Super Decathlon.

That is a good group of folks there at Acro Air. I bring the Stearman as well as the Maule down and do a good bit of flying with them when I get a chance to make it down there...formation and aerobatics as well as short / soft field flying...what more could you ask for?

www.flyacroair.com

deedus wrote:I had been wanting to take some spin training for awhile now and finally found the time and good weather to get r done. Wow! I had so much fun and really learned alot. Not nearly as scarry as I imagined and I was able to easily and quickly recover every one. Did about 7. Also did some mild aerobatics. I could easily get addicted to that but $$$$$ holds me back. If you ever find yourself feeling like you are stuck in a rut, go out and do some aerobatics (with instructor of course) it's guaranteed to put a smile on your face. I was pumped for two days.

Yea, and you just stepped up a few thousand percent in your piloting abilities, and your survivability if ya ever end up in an unusual attitude..... Good for you..... Keep it up.... That's cheap insurance.

I did spin training last year at Amelia Reid Aviation in San Jose. I'll tell you what being able to tell an examiner the steps to recover from a spin vs. actually physically doing it while your falling out of the sky and watching the ground go round and round are two totally seperate things!! X2 on excellent training!

I highly encourage every pilot to do this. I had so much fun and it totally removed the fear factor of spins. I would do it again in a heartbeat provided the funds were available. I told my instructor before we departed that I didn't know how brave I would be but I had so much fun we wound up doing loops, rolls, hammerhead stalls, inverted flight and now I'm wanting to do some more.

Now your hooked...no going back.

Maybe I'll catch you down there sometime and do a bit of formation flying. 3rd Saturday of the month I usually bring the Stearman down to 3M5 for the breakfast and stay for a bit of flying with the Acro Air crew afterwards.

deedus wrote:I highly encourage every pilot to do this. I had so much fun and it totally removed the fear factor of spins. I would do it again in a heartbeat provided the funds were available. I told my instructor before we departed that I didn't know how brave I would be but I had so much fun we wound up doing loops, rolls, hammerhead stalls, inverted flight and now I'm wanting to do some more.

Deedus,

When you can scrape up a few thousand bucks....buy yourself an early model Pitts SIC. There are some nice ones out there with the O-290 or O-320 engines for under $14,000.00 The O-290 will burn about 7 gph....climb 2,000 fpm, cruise at 140 mph, redline at 210 mph, provide vertical penetration for at least 500 ft. and sustain 9 g's. The little jewels are so small(14ft. wing span) that your buddy will let you park it in the hangar behind his C-170 for free!

Nothing like coming out of a hammerhead, decending vertically at 210 mph, then pulling up into a half loop, followed by an inverted 45 degree downline....finally rolling upright and screaming by your buddies at 210 mph and 100 ft. agl.

Flying it will set you hair on fire and make you feel like a "Top Gun."

Many moons ago I ignorantly stated that I'd never ...#1 fly a homebuilt airplane. #2 fly aerobatics. Then I bought a Pitts S1C, with an O-290/130 HP for $7,000.00. It had no electrical system and weighed only 695 pounds!. Thus the great performance. A couple years later I added a Skybolt with the IO-540/260 HP.(a lot more money and gas!) The following 15 years and 1,000 hours of aerobatic flying where the most fun I've ..... "ever had with my pants on!"

Enjoy the adventure. It has just begun

Bob

Back when I was a wee lad.

You pulled the pin on a flare, and once you saw it through the fog, you spun down through the clouds.

Once you broke out the bottom you recovered, and headed for the airport.

I dont know what year cessna dropped the flares but they carried them for quite awhile.

mr scout wrote:I dont know what year cessna dropped the flares but they carried them for quite awhile.

My 46 140 has the option for them in the parts book. Carries three if I remember correctly

Central Washington State College has a professional pilot program and a fleet of low wing Pipers. Today I was down at the airport having coffee and donuts and telling lies with other old pilots. This 172 showed up and I asked why the college had bought it. There were a couple of Flight students there and they said it was for spin training. Note the N number, 360.

Be careful with spin training. It can get REALLY expensive. I took a spin recovery class back in the 1980s. After doing a series of spins, the owner of the Decathlon asked me if I'd like to do a loop. I said yes, and the next thing you know, I owned a Pitts S2A. That's me on the left. The guy n the right was one of my partners in the plane.

Flyhound wrote:Be careful with spin training. It can get REALLY expensive. I took a spin recovery class back in the 1980s. After doing a series of spins, the owner of the Decathlon asked me if I'd like to do a loop. I said yes, and the next thing you know, I owned a Pitts S2A. That's me on the left. The guy n the right was one of my partners in the plane.

That's a nice photo and a cool story. My story is exactly the opposite. My path to Backcountry flying and the Skywagon started from not having the stomach for aerobatics. I owned a Super Decathlon for about 3 years. I loved aerobatics when I was young man. Could go fly the box for 45 minutes and felt great then I got older and something in my vestibular system changed. It got to the point with the Super Decathlon that I didn't look forward to flying. Felt I had to do some aerobatics because - I owned and aerobatic airplane. Bought it in 2002 and sold in 2005. Airplaneless for 2 years until I bought the 180 in 2007. They say buy an airplane for your mission. I sort of did but the 180 changed my flying. Brought me into the world of Backcountry/STOL flying,.

To stay on topic. Spin and aerobatic training are valuable I hit wake turbulence behind an MD80 in 1994 flying into KSNA at night and went full knife-edge first left then right as I passed through each side of the wake. Needed full opposite aileron to prevent the airplane from rolling. I think the aerobatic training helped in this situation. Spin training builds confidence doing stalls and is invaluable - shame it is not part of normal training.


Josh

When part of the commercial it sort of needed to be paired with thermalling or ridge riding up in low powered trainers at high DA. Lots of slow flight training was slow flight at full power. There was a time when the C-150 was a more modern and more powerful airplane for training.

Flyhound wrote:

Looks like the airport dress codes were a little stricter back then.
"Necktie required"

Try some falling leaf stalls in your daily driver too