Plane Spins Uncontrollably in Mid-Air During Planned Stall
This student pilot was practicing a stalling exercise when flying over Tombstone, Arizona, back in 2012 when something truly unexpected occurred; the plane started to, temporarily, spin out of control.
Timothy Timmons, who sent Storyful the video, described the scene:
“This was a practice power on stall exercise with a student in a Cessna 172 (180HP STC). Notice how the aircraft was yawing left due to lack of right rudder. When the left wing dropped, the student attempted recovery by trying to lift the down wing with aileron (a very natural yet, incorrect, response). This only aggravates the stall (by further increasing the wings AOA, and more deeply stalling the wing) and the development of a spin began, as we went into the vertical. The correct response to a wing drop is quick and pronounced opposite rudder.’
“In 15 seconds, we went from 7600ft MSL to 6600ft MSL, before recovering. The descent was 4000ft a minute! We leveled off at 2100ft AGL and would have had only an additional 30 seconds before impact.”
A lucky escape indeed. Credit: Tim Timmons via Storyful
- G
Articles like this at Yahoo are like that bloke down the pub who exaggerates every story until it becomes the most exciting thing in the history of mankind. That was a classic stall which the inexperienced pilot caught a bit late. The plane didn't "spin uncontrollably". It didn't even manage one complete rotation. - C
Stupid sensationalism - it's certainly not "uncontrollably" as the student very quickly corrects it. Standard training - I went through it in glider training years ago. - A
Student pilot error. Applying opposite aileron to the incipient spin makes it worse. That's why he's practicing this, to learn how to handle the plane. This is part of normal pilot training. - M
What absolute rubbish. Simple recovery from an incipient spin. If the FI really thought this a dramatic event then he's in the wrong job. - S
Non-article! One of the things that happens as a student pilot, learning about stalling! Who writes this #$%$ - H
It spun once, if that... - AYahoo must really be getting desperate.
- ANothing unusual. This is not news. Why is it here? Standard training!
- D
Seems strange that the writer goes from MSL, mean sea level, to AGL, above ground level, given that all work when training, unless asked to calculate AGL is done in MSL. Sounds more and more a normal Yahoo BS story. Nowhere in the story does the writer mention ground height which would enable the reader to understand what height they really were when this spin started. - DI seem to remember that this is a standard thing during PPL training, so normal practice for a student, so why the big song and dance by Yahoo?
