John Halle,
     And John, thanks for your  enlightening discourse on spins, I just hope you have the time to rashional it out after your A/P dumps a "hard up" on you in IMC.  Sure, I should have caught it and Yes, it was pilot error, but if bearing my soul helps someone elses awareness, then you miss the reason for the original post.    The fact that , in my case, anyway, the recovery was pretty well straight forward, proves that it can be done with "conventional" techniques.  They are not "benign" because of the rather large altitude loss in my case in IMC.  If you have some real experiences/ data to add to the discourse I'd like to hear it... Don Skeele  
>
> From: "Halle, John" <JJHALLE@stoel.com>
> Date: 2006/11/15 Wed PM 12:51:30 EST
> To: "Lancair Mailing List" <lml@lancaironline.net>
> Subject: [LML] Re: Down anywhere !!  spinning
>
> Part of the problem with spin recovery in Lancairs is that no one has
> much information about the spin recovery characteristics of any Lancair
> and the fact that they are built for performance (to say nothing of the
> fact that those in the best position to know have not ventured to spin
> them) suggests that they are not necessarily benign.  In VMC, I would
> start with the standard spin recovery drill and if that did not work
> would try other things (e.g. trying various ways of getting the nose
> down and/or airspeed up.)  At least for upright spins, it is pretty easy
> to figure out what direction you are spinning in and reasonably
> intuitive to do what the book says to do.  In IMC, I think one has to
> realize that the situation is dire (a lot like engine out at night.)
> Since every airplane that I have ever spun will recover eventually if
> you just get your mitts off the controls, I think I would start with
> that.  If that did not seem to be working, I would do my best with what
> I had available to try to determine spin direction.  If I had nothing
> (which is not impossible) I would try one way but fairly gently and look
> for improvement.  If there was none (or things seemed to be getting
> worse) I would try the other way.  If none of that worked, I think I
> would just sit and wait for any break that would allow a visual
> assessment and go from there.  Even a short break through a layer would
> provide a lot of information.
>
> On the theory about the ounce of prevention, however,  I think the best
> defense against IMC spins is not to stall.  There should be no reason,
> for example, in my Legacy to ever be under 120k in IMC.  That is roughly
> twice dirty stall.  I think anyone who lacks the ability to control a
> Legacy in IMC to ensure that, with a target airspeed of 120, the speed
> never falls below 70 should question what they are doing in IMC in the
> first place.  In anticipation of the comment about severe turbulence,
> icing etc., I repeat the last sentence.
>
>
> John J. Halle
> Stoel Rives LLP
> 900 SW 5th Avenue
> Portland, Oregon 97204
> (503) 294-9233 office
> (503 545-4307 cell
>
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