ED MOORMAN'S

SPINS

MANEUVER CARD

NORMAL UPRIGHT SPINS

Spins are stick position maneuvers that really take no pilot skill, other than basic flying ability. If your plane has enough elevator and rudder movement, it will spin if you put the sticks in the right position. You begin a spin by climbing to a safe, high altitude and placing the both sticks in either the lower left or lower right corners. Check the pictures for the left and right spin. For the left spin, you see idle power & full left rudder on the left stick and full up elevator and full left aileron on the right stick. Notice that the sticks are in the left corners. The right spin needs right rudder, idle, right aileron, and full up. The sticks are in the right corners.

LEFT SPIN

RIGHT SPIN

If your plane does a spiral, like a downward barrel roll, it isn't completely stalled. You will need to change your controls to give yourself more up elevator.

If the amount of elevator control you need for spins is too quick for your normal flying set your spin controls for high rate and use low rate for your normal flying.

If this doesn't work, try adding tail weight to move the CG rearward. Many of the "Stick" type planes and all trainers have high lift wings and a forward CG. This makes them safe for training, in that the student has a difficult time getting into an unintentional stall. They tend to be very hard to spin unless you add tail weight and use a lot of elevator movement.

When I mention adding tail weight to move the CG to the rear, don't think that I mean to make the plane unstable. Trainers and Sticks are ultra stable. We need a plane that is normally stable. I have flown many trainers that had the CG so far forward (they were so nose heavy) that they required just about full up elevator to flare for landing. This is a poor setup, and it actually teaches the student to use too much elevator in the landing process. On his next plane he will probably over control. If your plane will flare normally with only a small amount of up elevator, it should have the CG in a good position for spins.

To recover from a spin, just release the controls. The spin should stop in less than a turn. Once you know how long it takes your plane to stop, you can time the recovery to end up going the way you want. This is how the pattern guys get a three-turn spin. If your plane stalls and spins well, try adding full power during the spin, or not reducing to idle for the start. This will make your "tailspin" really wrap up.