Sender: <marv@lancaironline.net> (Marvin Kaye)
To: lml
Date: Fri, 14 Jun 2002 19:38:33 -0400
Message-ID: <redirect-1293748@logan.com>
From: Brent Regan <Brent@regandesigns.com>
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Subject: Stalls in a IV
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The one fellow that I know has spun a IV and lived to tell is Charlie 
Kohler (CFII, DAR, Lancair check pilot and general good guy with many 
thousands of hours). According to Charlie he was instructing and the 
pilot was practicing accelerated stalls. On one attempt the pilot 
entered the stall uncoordinated that resulted in a very fast spin. 
Charlie  was able to break the spin with power back, opposite rudder and 
RAPID forward stick. The plane lost 8,000 feet in a few seconds 
(although I am sure it seemed like a few hours).

Now I am not about to tell anyone that practicing stalls is a good or 
bad idea. The FAA has been on both sides of the fence and this is 
another case of lean-rich, left stick-right stick, less filling-tastes 
great, PC-MAC where there is no general right answer and arguing about 
it makes you look a little silly.

I can say that I do practice stalls for the following reason. There are 
three things that combined represent better than 90 percent of airplane 
crashes. They are; VMC into IMC, running out of fuel, and stall spin 
when low and slow. To increase my longevity I got my instrument ticket, 
was careful to be sure that the fuel system was properly built and the 
gages were accurate, and I practice stalls. I start at 10-12,000 feet 
AGL and put the plane in landing configuration. I am always careful to 
keep the ball centered. When I started stall training it would take 1500 
to 2000 feet to recover and secondary stalls were frequent (death in the 
pattern). After a couple dozen or so I am able to consistently recover 
in 5-600 feet with no secondary. Given the surprise of an unexpected 
stall in the pattern this will increase but should still be in the 
survivable range of the pattern altitude.

My advice is to practice stalls and avoid spins. Spins are not 
recoverable from altitudes where they are likely to happen but stalls 
can be IF the pilot's reactions are trained.

But that is just my opinion and I am probably wrong.

Regards
Brent Regan