I was out doing a solo flight early on Sunday, just practicing maneuvers. I've pretty much fulfilled all the practical requirements for the private license, so now it's just refreshing the maneuvers up to checkride level and studying the ground school stuff for the written and oral tests.
Well, in trying to pull off a power-on stall, something went wrong. I found myself in the preliminary stages of an erect spin. I recovered it immediately and only lost about 300 feet of altitude, but it really freaked me out. Something like that---a maneuver I'd never encountered before---happening without an instructor onboard? Scary.
I had noticed a tendency of the rudder on that plane to pull left in slow flight the day before (with the instructor), so knowing I was going to practice stalls, just in case I elected to refresh myself on spin recovery earlier that morning. Damn good thing I did.
So what does it feel like? Well, imagine an airplane standing upright on its tail. Now imagine it falling over sideways, pilot's window to the ground. Now imagine it not hitting the ground because the entire thing is taking place 3000 feet in the air....the nose just keeps right on over until it's more or less pointed down.
My first instinct was to try and turn the ailerons right, of course, but I remembered after about half a second that spin recovery uses full opposite rudder and the ailerons should be neutral. I don't recall whether I pulled the power out or not (you're supposed to)....I think I did. All I know is I felt much better when I was no longer moving sideways and I could feel the controls become responsive again....even though I was below the horizon. I pulled up. Okay, *really* below the horizon. Kept on pulling up....
All told the whole thing took maybe 4 seconds, and I lost about 300 feet of altitude. Could have been worse. But it shot my nerves to hell, and I elected to only do a few additional maneuvers---including a landing at the local satellite airport to get some on-the-ground time to chill out---before heading back in.
I've been flashing back to that all day, though. Which is part of why I'm still up at 3AM. I keep thinking of An Occurrence At The Owl Creek Bridge for some reason. Reading everything in my textbook regarding spins, stalls, and spin recovery has helped; writing this may as well.
In any event, not gonna try stalls again while flying solo. Bad idea. In fact I'd be happy doing the absolute minimum on the stall front from here on out.
Well, in trying to pull off a power-on stall, something went wrong. I found myself in the preliminary stages of an erect spin. I recovered it immediately and only lost about 300 feet of altitude, but it really freaked me out. Something like that---a maneuver I'd never encountered before---happening without an instructor onboard? Scary.
I had noticed a tendency of the rudder on that plane to pull left in slow flight the day before (with the instructor), so knowing I was going to practice stalls, just in case I elected to refresh myself on spin recovery earlier that morning. Damn good thing I did.
So what does it feel like? Well, imagine an airplane standing upright on its tail. Now imagine it falling over sideways, pilot's window to the ground. Now imagine it not hitting the ground because the entire thing is taking place 3000 feet in the air....the nose just keeps right on over until it's more or less pointed down.
My first instinct was to try and turn the ailerons right, of course, but I remembered after about half a second that spin recovery uses full opposite rudder and the ailerons should be neutral. I don't recall whether I pulled the power out or not (you're supposed to)....I think I did. All I know is I felt much better when I was no longer moving sideways and I could feel the controls become responsive again....even though I was below the horizon. I pulled up. Okay, *really* below the horizon. Kept on pulling up....
All told the whole thing took maybe 4 seconds, and I lost about 300 feet of altitude. Could have been worse. But it shot my nerves to hell, and I elected to only do a few additional maneuvers---including a landing at the local satellite airport to get some on-the-ground time to chill out---before heading back in.
I've been flashing back to that all day, though. Which is part of why I'm still up at 3AM. I keep thinking of An Occurrence At The Owl Creek Bridge for some reason. Reading everything in my textbook regarding spins, stalls, and spin recovery has helped; writing this may as well.
In any event, not gonna try stalls again while flying solo. Bad idea. In fact I'd be happy doing the absolute minimum on the stall front from here on out.
