Spins ????

[Steve Pierce]

Same airplane, different event.

[azevedoflyer]

Previous owner of my PA22/20-150 (an A&P plus 50+ years of crop spraying under his belt!) and I went flying her (his last flight before all his systems shut down for good and he headed West). He was in the left seat. He climbed up to 3500', cleared the area and we started a series of spins to the right and to the left. Here my notes:
1 - It was impossible to enter a fully developed spin without trimming properly.
2 - Once proper recovery was initiated, spin would stop promptly, pronto! Better even than the gliders I flew many, many moons ago...
3 - In a fully developed spin, you can feel the plane "letting go...". It felt like tearing through an aerodynamic "spider web". She really corkscrewed then...to the satisfaction of the old timer!

And then we went through some loops. It was fun and conforting having your own airplane demonstrated to you by a pro.
When I remarked that "I should try it myself", the advice came thick and fast: "get proper instruction or you will find yourself on your back..."

In my opinion, light airplanes designed from 1945 - 1960 benefited from the best trained designers ever, most of them having gone through the exercise numerous times (WW2). Thus, resulting planes were "honest to God" planes, all vices wringed off. How many planes do present aircraft designers go through in their entire lives? They would be lucky if they had their hands in one that made production...
Cheers,
Miguel Azevedo
PA22/20-150

[Steve Pierce]

The engineers I know just develope one ittle part except for a few who were involved in a couple of light sport designs.

I tore my bird up pretty good this past weekend. I was attempting a short field landing using slow flight technique, [full flaps and power for descent]. Dead calm at my local field, straight in approach over descending terrain, about an hour before sunset. I was all set up with 100' to go to the threshold in a stabilized approach but the nose was so high that I couldn't see the runway. I brought in a little more power and nudged the nose over with some right rudder. The right wing dipped and then whipped the left wing down hard. Fortunately I was only about 20' AGL.

The left wing hit and buckled at the landing light/ strut attach points, folded the left gear out, suffered a strong prop hit which bounced the plane 180 degrees, tore off the nose gear and folded the right gear under the plane. The tail skid hit and slightly bent the right tail feather.

The whole thing was over in under 1 or 2 seconds. I instinctively shut the fuel off, made a quick radio call and killed the electrical buss, and punched out the pilots side window. I was nearly on the taxiway by the time several cars pull up. Seems they were having a party with a band and about 65 people. Nothing like an audience when you are at your finest.

Photos below. Broke 4" off both ends of the prop. Landed in the dirt runover area. I had the plane tore down and stowed within 2 days. Looks like it's time to start my project.

Regards;

Mark Phillips
312 hrs PIC -[attachment=2:2g406ne8]photo-one.jpg[/attachment:2g406ne8][attachment=2:2g406ne8]photo-one.jpg[/attachment:2g406ne8]

[Stephen]

Mark, sorry about the plane, but good you are fine.

I tried a gear up landing once in my Pacer when the right grear leg broke on a landing in my field. Not good for the plane, but an opportunity to do those mods when rebuilding.

[Steve Pierce]

Mark, Very sorry to hear and see this. Unfortunately I know how you feel. If I can help in any way let me know. I have a fuselage jig and lots of parts. If you want to come to Graham and fix your fuselage we have an apartment in the hanger you are welcome to stay in.

[pistoncan]

I am also sad to see the pics of your accident. I wiped the landing gear off off one in an emergency landing in a hay field/corn field back about 1980 so I can relate. Were you hull insured? I have an extra rear spar if it will help. Gary

Thanks for all the messages about my "failure to maintain controllable airspeed" incident and all the offers of help, parts, support, etc. I have gotten the airframe broken down and assessed the damage. It was more extensive than I first thought. I think a jig sill be required to get it straight again. I have been trying to reach Airwrench about his Producer STC but haven't gotten a response. I have an idea what I want to do with the wings. His Aircraft really seems to be the natural evolution and I would really like to get some technical information or plans on how to get there from here.

I haven't told the wife and she hasn't asked. She knew I was flying the plane down to the hanger for the annual inspection so I plan on telling her that I "uncovered some structural issues with the aircraft during the inspection" that might "take a while to resolve".

Best wishes;

Mark Phillips

[Stephen]

I haven't told the wife and she hasn't asked. She knew I was flying the plane down to the hanger for the annual inspection so I plan on telling her that I "uncovered some structural issues with the aircraft during the inspection" that might "take a while to resolve".

Does this make you a coward???

[craigh]

I haven't told the wife and she hasn't asked. She knew I was flying the plane down to the hanger for the annual inspection so I plan on telling her that I "uncovered some structural issues with the aircraft during the inspection" that might "take a while to resolve".

Does this make you a coward???

No, just an "experienced" husband. : :mrgreen: