Date: Sun, 21 May 2000 22:13:23 -0700
From: Bob Chesley <rchesley@soca.com>
Subject: Unintentional Spin - Lessons Learned
To: Lancair List Address <lancair.list@olsusa.com>
Reply-to: rchesley@soca.com
Message-id: <3928C1F3.79568496@soca.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0

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    Let me swallow all pride and post this note of my experience for the
benefit of all, both experienced and relatively inexperienced Lancair
pilots.

    I have finally gotten some solution to my Terra radio problems (created
when their separate Marker Beacon receiver is connected to their COM audio
input) and gotten back to testing my LNC2 (320).  I have about 20 hours
logged.
    I have never gotten a buffet or a sharp break in the several "clean"
stalls I have done.  Several days ago I climbed to 9,000 feet and powered
down, approaching stall speed fairly slowly.  My a/c "wallows" and gets very
sloppy near stall. The wallowing causes the ball to go all over the tube.  I
thought I would coordinate the plane a little and decrease the ball
excursion somewhat and fed in a little right rudder (fairly cautiously) when
the ball was on the right side ("step on the ball").  The plane "snapped" to
the right and I got the upside down view of the earth familiar from spin
training back when it was required and from giving instruction in spins as a
CFI after they were no longer required.
    Despite not flying a lot in recent years the incantation "stop the turn"
sprang to mind and full left rudder was immediately effective, stopping the
spin in about half a turn with around 800 feet altitude loss.
    I talked with Doug Weeldryer, at Lancair, about the maneuver and he
described the lead-in precisely and suggested that the ball, during the
wallowing around, may have been lagging the actual skidding and right rudder
may have been 180 out of phase, creating the necessary conditions for a
spin.  Doug also suggested that the slow approach to the stall and weak
aileron effect may contribute to the tendency.  I have already heard of two
other occasions where an inadvertent spin has occurred, both with the
aircraft in the clean configuration.
    In the hope that others can learn from the experience, I would welcome
any discussion, critical or otherwise.  From the experience, I know that
prior training with spins was very helpful.  Next time, I will I will play
out the scenario ahead of time and be more prepared.  (It was a VERY sudden
maneuver!)  I have also given some thought to the sequence of recovery
actions should it happen with no outside visual references.  I have never
recovered under the hood from "unusual attitudes" that included spins, and
think it might be interesting,... in another airplane.  Finally, I
understand that a secondary stall is possible and has happened in similar
recoveries and, although it didn't occur in this case, it was not because I
was thinking about it at the time.
    I have gained a lot more respect for our little gem, and hope that this
description may be helpful to others.

Bob Chesley
LNC2

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