Flight Training - September 2014 - 42

LINCOLN BEACHEY helped invent aerobatics. At the 1911 Los Angeles airshow Beachey was a mechanic when a star pilot got hurt.
Beachey took his place. In a Curtiss biplane he climbed to 3,000 feet into the air-and his engine failed. He went into a nose-diving
spin that no pilot had ever survived. And he did what no pilot had ever done: regained control and landed safely. He later became the
most famous performer on the Curtiss Exhibition Team. When so many young pilots attempted to emulate his feats-and died doing
so-Beachey temporarily stopped performing.

To spin or not to spin? That used to be the question.
The argument continues even today, 65 years after
the Civil Aeronautics Authority (predecessor to
today's FAA) decreed that spin training for private
and commercial pilots no longer would be required.
(Spin training for CFIs is still required.) Proponents
say spin training improves survival chances in an
inadvertent stall/spin; opponents argue that since
spins first require a stall, pilots should be better
taught how to recognize stalls. Either way, it's the
wrong argument. (See "Spin Training: Did It Really
Help?" p. 43.) "Traditional spin training is of little
or no value in an accidental stall/spin or other upset
situation," says Rich Stowell, nationally known as the
"Spin Doctor" and a founding member of the Society
of Aviation and Flight Educators (SAFE). "Studies
dating to the 1970s show 'spin or no spin' is totally
the wrong question. Context-based upset recovery
training [UPRT], which includes stall/spins, should
be your focus."
Upset training? The FAA mandated upset training
for airline pilots in November 2013, then on March
18, 2014, issued draft Advisory Circular 120-UPRT
to explain how such training should be conducted.

Although written for airline pilots, the very first
paragraph says, "the FAA encourages all airplane
operators, pilot schools, and training centers to
implement UPRT."
In other words, the FAA believes upset training is
good for you. A 2003 AOPA Air Safety Institute study
estimated that 10 percent of recent GA accidents
involved a stall/spin, which would mean about 115
accidents in 2012. A 2013 report from the FAA's Loss
of Control Working Group shows that the overwhelming majority occur in visual weather, and those
that occur in instrument conditions are most often a
steep spiral that allows speed to build-and results in
disaster when the pilot pulls back hard on the yoke.
Why wouldn't traditional spin or even aerobatic
training do the same thing? Essentially, UPRT trains
pilots to avoid upset situations, as well as how to
recover should they occur.
"Pilots who believe performing one or two intentional spins will improve their survival chances in an
accidental encounter are fooling themselves," says
Stowell, who also is the 2014 National FAASTeam
Representative of the Year, 2006 National CFI of the
Year, and author of The Light Airplane Pilot's Guide

RESOURCES
* "Stall/Spin: Entry Point for Crash and Burn?" AOPA Air Safety Institute, 2003 (www.aopa.org/-/media/Files/AOPA/Home/
Pilot%20Resources/Safety%20&%20Proficiency/Accident%20Analysis/Special%20Reports/stall_spin.pdf)
* "Checklist: Stall? Who, Me?" FAA Safety Briefing, March/April 2014 (www.faa.gov/news/safety_briefing/2014/media/
MarApr2014.pdf).
* "Maintaining Aircraft Control," Society of Aviation and Flight Educators (www.safepilots.org/documents/Maintaining_
Aircraft_Control_20Jun2012.pdf)
42 /

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http://www.aopa.org/-/media/Files/AOPA/Home/Pilot%20Resources/Safety%20&%20Proficiency/Accident%20Analysis/Special%20Reports/stall_spin.pdf http://www.aopa.org/-/media/Files/AOPA/Home/Pilot%20Resources/Safety%20&%20Proficiency/Accident%20Analysis/Special%20Reports/stall_spin.pdf http://www.faa.gov/news/safety_briefing/2014/media/MarApr2014.pdf http://www.faa.gov/news/safety_briefing/2014/media/MarApr2014.pdf http://www.safepilots.org/documents/Maintaining_Aircraft_Control_20Jun2012.pdf http://www.safepilots.org/documents/Maintaining_Aircraft_Control_20Jun2012.pdf http://FLIGHTTRAINING.AOPA.ORG

Flight Training - September 2014

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