I'm posting this note in response to the tragic loss of Jim Doyle (Chopmo) and the preliminary NTSB report that states that Jim's crash was preceded by a flat inverted spin. We may never know exactly what caused this awful accident, but the thing that comes to my mind is that while Jim was a very experienced aerobatic pilot, the witness statement (from another very experienced aerobatic pilot and coach) stated that the spin transitioned from flat to nose down, that the rotation stopped momentarily, and then started again until impacting the ground. (If I have that wrong, please correct me.)
The point of this note is that Gene Beggs was also a very experienced aerobatic, high level competitor, and as he tells it in his book, he almost bought the farm on two different occasions because of the confusion that resulted from inadvertent inverted spins. I figured if it could happen to Gene, it could certainly happen to me. And it has.
Before I got my S-1, I took an inverted spin class in an S-2 with John Housely in STL. The mission was for me to be able to recover from inverted spins that John entered while my head was down in the cockpit. I got to where I could do it pretty quickly and with minimum altitude loss, but the first one tumbled my gyros pretty badly. Even knowing it was coming, we still lost about 1,500 feet after entering the spin. That was an enlightening moment for me.
When I got the S-1, I also got Gene Beggs' book about Spins in a Pitts. The reason I wanted it is that with John I'd learned the PARE method, but Gene taught the emergency "hands off the stick" method, and he said that after he'd done hundreds of spins himself, and after Bob Herendeen had done the same, they were convinced that the emergency method was 100% effective in an S-1. I figured that if they said it, I was willing to try it, with the confidence that I could revert to the PARE method if my plane didn't respond to the emergency procedure that Gene described in the book.
We'll, the emergency procedure works in my plane as promised, so I practiced it over and over in order to instill in myself the discipline to implement the procedure in the event I ever found myself in an unintentional inverted spin. To date, I've used it twice, and both times, the recovery was uneventful because I knew what to do, AND I HAD PLENTY OF ALTITUDE.
My purpose here isn't to try to tell folks HOW to implement the PARE method or the Mueller-Beggs emergency method. I do however want to encourage everyone to get some good instruction, and then to practice what you learned from your instructor so you're less frightened and confused when it happens inadvertently.
If folks like Jim Doyle and Gene Beggs can get into inadvertent inverted spins, then so can anyone else. In one of the other threads, I read where a new Sportsman competitor frequently fell off into inverted spins while practicing the sportsman routine. I only mention that to point out that you don't have to be doing advanced acro for it to happen. Remember, the operative word here is inadvertent. Trust me, you don't want your first inverted spin to happen inadvertently.
Even if you're only a gentle acro guy like I am, please get some instruction in inverted spins, and then practice what you learned. You'll likely enjoy the process, you'll be a better pilot for having done so, and it just might save your life.
Fly high, and have fun.
The point of this note is that Gene Beggs was also a very experienced aerobatic, high level competitor, and as he tells it in his book, he almost bought the farm on two different occasions because of the confusion that resulted from inadvertent inverted spins. I figured if it could happen to Gene, it could certainly happen to me. And it has.
Before I got my S-1, I took an inverted spin class in an S-2 with John Housely in STL. The mission was for me to be able to recover from inverted spins that John entered while my head was down in the cockpit. I got to where I could do it pretty quickly and with minimum altitude loss, but the first one tumbled my gyros pretty badly. Even knowing it was coming, we still lost about 1,500 feet after entering the spin. That was an enlightening moment for me.
When I got the S-1, I also got Gene Beggs' book about Spins in a Pitts. The reason I wanted it is that with John I'd learned the PARE method, but Gene taught the emergency "hands off the stick" method, and he said that after he'd done hundreds of spins himself, and after Bob Herendeen had done the same, they were convinced that the emergency method was 100% effective in an S-1. I figured that if they said it, I was willing to try it, with the confidence that I could revert to the PARE method if my plane didn't respond to the emergency procedure that Gene described in the book.
We'll, the emergency procedure works in my plane as promised, so I practiced it over and over in order to instill in myself the discipline to implement the procedure in the event I ever found myself in an unintentional inverted spin. To date, I've used it twice, and both times, the recovery was uneventful because I knew what to do, AND I HAD PLENTY OF ALTITUDE.
My purpose here isn't to try to tell folks HOW to implement the PARE method or the Mueller-Beggs emergency method. I do however want to encourage everyone to get some good instruction, and then to practice what you learned from your instructor so you're less frightened and confused when it happens inadvertently.
If folks like Jim Doyle and Gene Beggs can get into inadvertent inverted spins, then so can anyone else. In one of the other threads, I read where a new Sportsman competitor frequently fell off into inverted spins while practicing the sportsman routine. I only mention that to point out that you don't have to be doing advanced acro for it to happen. Remember, the operative word here is inadvertent. Trust me, you don't want your first inverted spin to happen inadvertently.
Even if you're only a gentle acro guy like I am, please get some instruction in inverted spins, and then practice what you learned. You'll likely enjoy the process, you'll be a better pilot for having done so, and it just might save your life.
Fly high, and have fun.
