How to recover from an airplane spin, with Patty Wagstaff
1 min read 
While spin training is only required for new flight instructor candidates, pilots of all skill levels should know the steps to recover from a spin. Join Patty Wagstaff in her Super Decathlon aerobatic airplane, as she explains how it’s possible to enter a spin, and then the proper recovery steps to return to straight and level flight, in this video segment from Sporty’s Basic Aerobatics Course.
As Sporty’s lead aviation course and video producer, Bret is usually flying an interesting airplane, and often with a camera rolling. He oversees the development, production and distribution of over 30 aviation courses from Sporty's, including the Private Pilot Learn to Fly Course. He is a flight instructor and check airman at the Sporty's Academy flight school and a senior captain on a Cessna Citation.
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Although this video ends with the full and correct spin recovery procedure, the in-plane demonstration and oral instructions for recovery given earlier in the video begin with step three, rudder against the spin. This risks perpetuating the long standing likelihood of a systematic error creeping into spin training.
In a pinch, we do what we have trained to do, and if we have trained to begin the recovery by applying rudder opposite the spin, that is what we will do if something out of the ordinary and startling occurs, such as a spin going flat for unrecognized reasons. In fact, this abbreviated procedure is what nearly every pilot learns to do at muscle memory level because every practice spin is entered with throttle already at idle and with ailerons already neutral, so the first step in recovering from such a spin is actually abrupt application of full rudder opposite the spin (step three of the full spin recovery procedure).
This works until it doesn’t. When a spin is eventually entered without getting the throttle all the way back, the spin will go flat and not be recoverable until the throttle is finally brought back to idle. The adrenaline rush resulting from a spin going immediately flat for unrecognized reasons is likely to cause the pilot to reflexively try to immediately stop the spin by doing what has worked a thousand previous times, i.e., abruptly applying full rudder opposite the spin. When the spin does not stop, as it certainly will not, at least in a Pitts, the pilot may panic and not realize until too late that he or she has skipped step one of the full spin recovery procedure.
This video and all spin training should stress the importance of using a complete mental checklist of all five steps for every spin recovery, even if the first two steps are only physical and mental confirmations that they have been previously completed. Always starting with step three without mentally going through the normally unneeded first two steps is a potentially fatal systematic training error.
I am not a flight instructor. I speak only from personal experience. I learned this lesson only after reviewing the sequence of events that occurred during an inverted spin practice session about thirty years ago. Although my inverted flat spin finally transitioned to a normal inverted spin and stopped because I eventually inadvertently pulled the throttle back to idle, I did not understand why it had stopped until about an hour later. As surely as terror is a great teacher, the danger lurking in systematic training errors is a lesson I will never forget.
You’re not wrong but in the first demos she is performing the spin as an aerobatic maneuver.
She gives the PARE acronym for inadvertent spins which includes the power and ailerons neutral first.
It’s good to see you Patty, years of dedication to flight training, safety and all done with unstoppable energy and true passion! Thanks to Sporty’s, Bret for getting these vital lessons to us via phones and tablets, as we pilots are always learning. When not in the air, we’re equally learning through others lessons, thanks George for sharing yours as it does provoke a thought surrounding such routine training exercises. While most training notes encourage on memorizing steps by remembering formed words for familiarization, for me it has always helped to relate such steps to one’s physical senses and situation awareness. Through regular training and currency almost all given inadvertent aerodynamic maneuvers and resulting emergencies can be corrected with appropriate control inputs. So simple yet it’s important to be aware of all such controls being touched simultaneously through our hands and feet! (Throttle, York and Rudders), therefore in my early days of ATPL training I found it easy to run circle-checks of all physical touches to make sure I had the aircraft in desired configuration for any general handling maneuver including crucial recoveries such as stall and spins. After all the Pilot is in control of the aircraft at all times, not the other way around, a true statement drilled into my head by a trusty ex-RAF CFI !
Ever so grateful to all available resources such as Sporty’s for this key continuous education at comfort of our living rooms.
Have you thought about mentioning turn needle to determine direction of turn?
That is all well and good, but most “stall/spin” accidents don’t happen at a “safe altitude”; they happen down low and slow where if the pilot does not recognize the incipient spin, there is virtually no chance at recovery. When I was taking lessons toward my private certificate, the mantra was always maintain coordinated flight (yes, even in a stall). But if a wing drops, immediately drop the nose, reduce power and apply opposite rudder almost simultaneously.