httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SK9o_M0qnuc
My commercial training says that I need to learn how to spin an airplane. It would look just like this in a Cherokee 140. Would you do it? Or should I just rent the club’s Cessna 150? Would knowing the airframe had over 11,000 hours affect your decision?
Unlike your PA-28-140, my PA-28-161 isn’t even certified for intentional spins — you’re lucky you can practice them.
Spins aren’t high-G maneuvers, so I wouldn’t be concerned with airframe age — the only real stress is on your rudder. Cessna 150s or 152s had a problem with their rudders jumping their stops and jamming in the 80s or 90s, and at least one student and instructor died practicing spins before Cessna put out an AD requiring a physical modification to the rudder stops.
Do you trust your rudder? Does it serve you well in slips and crosswind landings? Personally, I’d rather do spin practice with a rudder I know than one I don’t, and I’ve never heard of a defect in the PA-28-140 similar to the one that affected the Cessnas.
No thanks for me, I was dizzy just looking at the video, let alone be in the airplane and be spinning downward and seeing the ground stare at me.
I don’t know, is this really safe to try ??? is Rica willing to sit next to you on this ride ? If she is, she’s a BRAVE woman.
By the way, let me wish you guys a very Merry Christmas and all the best for the New Year to come.
Jeanne
Thanks Jeanne! Merry Christmas to you as well. The spin in an airplane is not something you’d ever want to do with a passenger but we must learn it in order to understand how to get out of one if ever it should happen. It looks far worse than it actually is and in fact is a fairly safe maneuver so long as you have enough height above the ground.
Wait till you see my next blog entry about Rica, she is fearless!