First real scare getting my PPL

[IcedStorm777]

So I am 15 almost 16 and have about 25 logged hours. I will be soloing in early December. Today we were out in the training grounds of my area practicing stalls. I fly Cessna 150s primarily. I went up to do a power off stall at about 2500ft AGL, I had no rudder inputs and neither did my instructor. Out of the blue we entered a spin and for a solid few seconds all I could see out of the windshield was ground. Fortunately, my instructor has tons of hours in military, GA, and commercial (pretty sure close to 15,000hr) and he got us out. I have always heard of what to do in a spin (idle, full opposite rudder and push nose down) but it REALLY took me by surprise and I don't know if I could have gotten out without him in the plane. I was very lucky that we got out of it and that we were at altitude. Neither of us could figure out why it so suddenly entered a spin when there was no rudder inputs or anything like that. Anyway, just wanted to tell the story so yup, there you go!

 

[nhk750]

I always wondered while practicing stalls when that would happen, but luckily it never happened to me. It could have been a tail gust of wind or wind shear, you will never know, but glad you guys got out of it ok as at 2500 AGL you probably lost around 700-1000 feet which doesn't leave much for decisions or reaction time. I know when I was solo practicing stalls I would bring the 162 up to around 3500AGL or higher for piece of mind and extra safety cushion. Your going to have a great time flying solo, I did, as you really get to become one with the plane up there alone...

 

[IcedStorm777]

I always wondered while practicing stalls when that would happen, but luckily it never happened to me. It could have been a tail gust of wind or wind shear, you will never know, but glad you guys got out of it ok as at 2500 AGL you probably lost around 700-1000 feet which doesn't leave much for decisions or reaction time. I know when I was solo practicing stalls I would bring the 162 up to around 3500AGL or higher for piece of mind and extra safety cushion. Your going to have a great time flying solo, I did, as you really get to become one with the plane up there alone...

Yup! I am very excited to solo, just about two weeks until I am 16 so I can solo.

 

[The Hangar]

Yup! I am very excited to solo, just about two weeks until I am 16 so I can solo.

Woohoo - good luck! Let us know how it goes.

 

[Jackson T]

Yup! I am very excited to solo, just about two weeks until I am 16 so I can solo.

Good luck, have fun, and like @Cookie said, keep us posted!

 

[IcedStorm777]

Good luck, have fun, and like @Cookie said, keep us posted!

I definitely will, the past flight I did we were just in the pattern as we only had about 30min due to a scheduling error, during those 30min the instructor touched the controls once when he showed me something, got up, flew 5 patterns without any help from my instructor (best landings I have ever done so that's awesome). Then he demoed power off emergency landings and on my first try I succeeded so yay!!!

 

["Corpse"]

So I am 15 almost 16 and have about 25 logged hours. I will be soloing in early December. Today we were out in the training grounds of my area practicing stalls. I fly Cessna 150s primarily. I went up to do a power off stall at about 2500ft AGL, I had no rudder inputs and neither did my instructor. Out of the blue we entered a spin and for a solid few seconds all I could see out of the windshield was ground. Fortunately, my instructor has tons of hours in military, GA, and commercial (pretty sure close to 15,000hr) and he got us out. I have always heard of what to do in a spin (idle, full opposite rudder and push nose down) but it REALLY took me by surprise and I don't know if I could have gotten out without him in the plane. I was very lucky that we got out of it and that we were at altitude. Neither of us could figure out why it so suddenly entered a spin when there was no rudder inputs or anything like that. Anyway, just wanted to tell the story so yup, there you go!

Spins are SO much fun, but out of the blue it takes ya' by surprise! I fly gliders so I'm required to have spin training before I solo. Keep it coordinated!

Good luck on your solo! Mine was great.

 

[IcedStorm777]

Spins are SO much fun, but out of the blue it takes ya' by surprise! I fly gliders so I'm required to have spin training before I solo. Keep it coordinated!

Good luck on your solo! Mine was great.

In hindsight it was pretty enjoyable but just right out of the cuff it was a jumpscare like no other!! Oh awesome!! Yup, I turn 16 in a week so fingers crossed!

 

[ctmccloskey]

Stall Training in the United States is all but gone. Nobody wants to "take the risk" involved and liability.
A few years ago I bought a 1958 Cessna 172 with the straight tail. The 1958 Cessna was allowed to spin and it said so on the placard on the dash. Wide spins are okay, the ones you want to avoid are the tight ones and especially the FLAT Spins. By the way, The Cessna 172 can recover all by itself in 4000-4500 feet if you simply "let go" of the controls.
My instructor was vicious about the training and before you were allowed to solo you had to know how to recover from a Spin. We went to a local air port and emptied all loose gear out of the plane and then took off and climbed to 9k feet agl and he let the Cessna "auto recover". Then I was shown a proper spin recovery and proceeded to do it four more times myself.
I soloed a week later and loved flying my "OLD" 172 on the east coast before 9/11.

Before my instructor would let me near my own airplanes keys I had to pass the written test. That was a smart idea and I strongly suggest others do the same. Spins are not a bother to me any more as I KNOW i can regain control in 400-500 feet. Unusual Attitude Training is a lot of fun as well.

 

[Draftman1]

When I first started to learn to fly, my cfi demo’d a spin, it scared the heck out of me, so when it came to practice stalls, I got scared and froze up, but now, I love doing stalls.

I did a lot of training in a 1958. 172, It was a great plane!

 

[IcedStorm777]

Stall Training in the United States is all but gone. Nobody wants to "take the risk" involved and liability.
A few years ago I bought a 1958 Cessna 172 with the straight tail. The 1958 Cessna was allowed to spin and it said so on the placard on the dash. Wide spins are okay, the ones you want to avoid are the tight ones and especially the FLAT Spins. By the way, The Cessna 172 can recover all by itself in 4000-4500 feet if you simply "let go" of the controls.
My instructor was vicious about the training and before you were allowed to solo you had to know how to recover from a Spin. We went to a local air port and emptied all loose gear out of the plane and then took off and climbed to 9k feet agl and he let the Cessna "auto recover". Then I was shown a proper spin recovery and proceeded to do it four more times myself.
I soloed a week later and loved flying my "OLD" 172 on the east coast before 9/11.

Before my instructor would let me near my own airplanes keys I had to pass the written test. That was a smart idea and I strongly suggest others do the same. Spins are not a bother to me any more as I KNOW i can regain control in 400-500 feet. Unusual Attitude Training is a lot of fun as well.

I am definitely going to do "aerobatic" training immediately after getting my PPL and the main reason is that you usually do 10 spin recoveries. Seems like a useful thing to know how to do XD.

 

[Piotrsko]

Well any more the "official" position is: if you don't stall, you can't spin or approach the ground in an uncontrolled condition.

In my '50 Pacer, to stop the stall just let go of the wheel. To stop a spin stomp on the ball. Couple of hundred feet and all is good again. The issue is when you dont have that couple hundred feet.

There was a couple of incidents in 172's where the deployed flaps blanket the tail surfaces IIRC and the spins become very hard to recover from so right after that spins got banned.

Everyone needs acro training. Lets you know what a plane can actually do, even in a piper cub, the worlds safest airplane because it can just barely kill you according to Chuck Yeager

Btw there is a stock piper cub areobatic classification for beginners

 

[FoamyDM]

If I can do loops and rolls with the FT-Old Fogey... You can do acrobatics in anything.

I have noticed you can do very interesting maneuvers in a Cessna 172. like fly backwards if you have the right conditions. I remember as a kid my uncle would take us up and do "lazy 8s" and stall us out (on purpose) just for some fun, then restart as were gliding for a bit. It gave his wife a worry when he we told her after. I have 8 hrs so far toward my PPL and I have just started to understand I need to steer the plane less, and let the plane fly more.

The best RC advice I got was, "you aren't flying the plane, you are correcting where it's going." the same is true full-scale it seems.

your pilot journey will include some scares and doubts. Learn from them and overcome. and be smart. The first spin I accidentally started had me worried. the instructor just said to me let the plane fly. let it do what it wants. As I let my foot off the rudder, and centered the stick as it wanted we go speed and began to straighten out and level off. Just like RC.

I'm glad I started the Flying journey with RC. It has helped.

 

[ThatPolishHotdog]

I am definitely going to do "aerobatic" training immediately after getting my PPL and the main reason is that you usually do 10 spin recoveries. Seems like a useful thing to know how to do XD.

We all learn PARE but hope to god we never have to use it XD