QUIT STALLING OR SPIN IN!

me this was an airplane wings meant to fly an engine precision instruments ten thousand man hours of labor and now it's junk this was the pilot here reduced to statistics case records and reports is the history of airplanes destroyed wasted and far worse of men killed or injured here are the scorecards of carelessness and ignorance the case histories of the final mistakes of hundreds of pilots some of them students some with thousands of hours of flying time in the two years following pearl harbor many more navy flyers were killed in accidents than were killed in air combat stalls and spins alone killed almost as many flyers as the enemy did and accidental spins don't just happen they are caused by pilots who forget what they have been taught one the steeper the bank or the sharper the pull-up the higher the g two the higher the g and the heavier the load the higher the stalling speed three keep flying speed always the steeper the bank or the sharper the pull up the higher the g one g is a force equal to the pull of gravity the natural weight of anything when there is no other force applied in a 2g turn or dive pull out you experience a centrifugal or accelerating force which causes you and your airplane to weigh just twice the normal weight the steeper the bank or the sharper the pull-up the higher the g the higher the g and the heavier the load the higher the stalling speed in any maneuver the stalling speed of an airplane increases according to the square root of the applied g thus an airplane that stalls at an air speed of 70 knots in level flight 1g will stall at 140 knots in a 4g turn or pull out and remember the heavier the airplane is loaded the higher the wing loadings and therefore the higher the stalling speed any airplane will stall when the air speed falls below that required for the given attitude of flight keep flying speed always the record cards show that more than one half of all stall spin accidents occur in landing approaches classification d1 covers spin accidents during normal landing approach here is a case history this pilot was on the crosswind length of his approach to the field he turned too late and found himself overshooting the runway he tried to line himself up with the runway by means of a 50 degree bank turn his air speed was 90 knots and he should have had at least 10 knots more of that angle of bang midway in the turn the airplane fell off into a spin the cause of this crash was poor judgment the pilot made too violent a turn too slow when he found himself over shooting the groove he should have gone around again classification d2 covers landing approaches carrier and field carrier while engaged in carrier landing qualification this pilot came into the groove without sufficient power setting and losing altitude when given a low signal he pulled his nose up without adding throttle and in so doing he lost flying speed the plane fell off on his left wing the airplane was demolished the pilot was seriously injured the pilot probably owes his life to the fact that his shoulder harness was properly secured another pilot returning from a mission made a slow gliding approach a landing signal officer picked him up with a roger but as the pilot continued to settle in a flat attitude progressed to a low and come on upon receiving wave off from the signal officer the pilot jammed on full gun that airplane crashed the deck why because it was trimmed for landing at reduced power when the throttle was applied the pilot failed to compensate for the additional power prop blast and torque the common causes of spins and landing approaches are flying too slow on one of the approach legs making excessively steep turns or hitting the slipstream from another airplane the next case history covers a spin accident involving a pd with a crew of six no survivors according to witnesses the airplane was in a steep left turn at about 400 feet and at low airspeed when it stalled and spun to the left the aircraft entered the water in a shallow inverted dive it sank immediately according to analyses most spins following takeoff are caused by two steep climbs and climbing turns or getting into slipstream this pilot made a normal takeoff but entered a steep climb out of the field at about 400 feet altitude he started to turn at this moment he was seen to enter a spin he crashed near the edge of the field in the opinion of the board this fatal accident was due to the poor judgment and technique to the pilot in attempting a steep turn at low altitude and near stalling speed the next classification covers spin accidents occurring during simulated emergencies and small field practice in these accidents navy flight instructors were involved anyone can get into a spin anytime he gets careless of the speed or attitude of his airplane there's no mystery about spins all pilots know what causes them they should know how to avoid them and they must know how to recover from stalls and spins if they want to keep their health but above and beyond all that it's a matter of constant mental alertness of staying on your toes here's the case history of an instructor who had all the answers but didn't get the word this instructor and student were on an authorized b stage flight on leaving the pylons the instructor gave the student a simulated emergency downwind at low altitude the student attempted a steep turn into the wind he wrapped the airplane up until she stalled and entered a spin the instructor took over the controls but due to insufficient altitude was unable to recover it is the opinion of the board that the instructor was at fault in not taking over soon enough the accident would have been avoided if the instructor had gotten the word and if he hadn't carried his proof too far never make steep turns at low altitudes spins from low altitude to the worst you don't have a chance to recover also in the first half turn of the spin the rate of descent is greatest and the airplane just reaches the inverted position to stay out of spins know how much speed your airplane should have for any angle of bank with a safe margin then add a few extra knots for safety take the m2s for example in level flight this airplane stalls at 48 knots at 45 degrees of bank stalling speed goes up to about 55 knots and in a 60 degree bank the stall speed is up here to be safe let's say 68 knots notice that when bank is over 50 degrees stallings increases very rapidly now let's look at a service type aircraft such as the f6f with normal load the f6f in level flight clean stalls at 86 knots and in a 70 degree bank you need about 155 knots to be safe the case histories serve to show that poor flying technique may get you in a spin and that poor recovery technique will not get you out one deadly brand the poor spin recovery technique is the high g pull out at insufficient speed the added g may cause another spin sometimes called a progressive stall this f6f pilot cruising at 2 000 feet at 140 knots pulled up into a sharp climbing turn the airplane stalled and flipped over on its back in the beginning stages of a spin after stopping the spin the pilot tried to pull out too quickly this caused another stall and spin and the airplane crashed into the water before another recovery attempt could be made the squadron commander then took another f6f to safe altitude and simulated the same maneuver his airplane was equipped with a recording accelerometer which showed that the initial stall had occurred at approximately 4g his airplane also stalled and flipped over on its back just as the crashed airplane is done after stopping the spin he attempted a sharp two high g pullout the airplane again stalled and entered another and faster spin to get accurate data to instruct his pilots the squadron commander repeated this test several times he found that it took two thousand two hundred feet to recover from the inverted position in a split s and only a few hundred feet to half roll from inverted position to normal flight there are four other major classifications of spin accidents those taking place in emergency landings due to engine failure those traceable to unauthorized low flying or flat having those occurring at night or under conditions of reduced visibility due to clouds or fog and those during dive or strafing pull outs at night a pby was circling the scene of a previous crash flying speed was lost in a climbing turn and the plane spun in from 200 feet killing all on board flatheading most flat hatting fatalities are the direct result of stalls at altitudes too low to permit recovery when the attention is on the ground instead of flying the airplane it's easy to let the speed drop off or bank too steeply this ace of the face spun in from 100 feet while zooming his girlfriend's house and making a sharp turn of too many g anyway you look at it he wasn't very smart during takeoff this pilot was in too big a hurry to plan his takeoff he hit someone else's slip stream and spun in the pilot of this airplane tried to stretch his glide during an emergency landing remember your power off stalling speed is slightly higher than with power on this is all the more reason for being careful of flying speed when making an emergency landing if you can't make a field within safe gliding distance and without dangerously steep turns land into the wind in the best available spot even in extremely rough terrain you stand a very fine chance of escaping without injury if your shoulder harness is properly secured and you land in a normal attitude but if you spin in during your approach your chances are pretty slim during dive bombing practice the pilot of this airplane carried his dive too low he attempted a snap pull out the airplane stalled at high speed and fell off into a vicious spin from which it crashed remember an airplane can be stalled at terminal velocity by a violent use of the controls when you approach a stall an accelerated flight you won't get all the warnings such as sloppy controls and buffeting that you get when purposely entering a normal stall in level flight here's a pilot who tried to fly by feel in the overcast he lost airspeed and spun out flight surgeons have definitely established that men are not physiologically equipped to fly without a visual reference you've got to go on instruments without delay and make yourself control the airplane in accordance with their readings spin accidents are avoidable they won't happen if you fly smart if you know you're close to a stall yet that stick can throttle forward get flying speed in a hurry lower the altitude the better and faster your recovery technique has got to be in a normal spin cut the gun kick full rudder against the spin hold it for a quarter turn then get that stick forward and give the controls time to take effect entered at high speeds are fast and vicious and require rapid and positive application of controls the controls may have to be held in the recovery position for a longer time if the spin is inverted cut the gun full rudder against the turn then stick clear back into your lap don't try to pull the stick out of its socket as you're likely to do if your safety belt is loose in an inverted spin look over the nose of the airplane if you let your head get thrown back so you're looking straight down at the ground there's a tendency to confuse the direction of rotation remember your turn indicator always shows the true direction of rotation in the long run avoiding a spin accident is a matter of avoiding sloppy flying matter of knowing what to do and doing it properly our files are full of pilots who either didn't know what to do or who forgot so get the word fly smart quit stalling and stay out of our files don't become a statistic you