Skill and Cunning

Brigid, the Celtic Warrior Princess at Home on the Range triggered a flying flashback this AM with a brief anecdote about stall recoveries and a somewhat unresponsive student.

My questionable reward for a combat tour very early in my military career was a transfer out of glamorous fighters into the very pedestrian world of primary flight instruction in a T-37 “Tweet” at Williams AFB. One of my students had been very apprehensive about the upcoming scheduled first spin instruction flight. I had anticipated and showed him a spin on the flight prior to demonstrate that it wouldn’t hurt a bit.

The day came and after some routine air work we climbed up to spin altitude, did the pre-spin checks and first did some approaches to spins where recovery is initiated prior to full spin development. These went well, so I told him I would demo one and then he would do his first spin and prescribed recovery, a rote procedure we had briefed in detail. He was ready.

His turn and he entered the spin. I then talked him through the recovery. Stick full aft, rudder and ailerons neutral, throttles to idle. Determine direction of spin. Now full opposite rudder. Wait one turn and stick full forward and immediately to a position slightly aft of neutral—bounce it off the forward stop. He hit the forward stop and locked his elbow like an over-center brace.

As advertised, we flipped over into an inverted stabilized spin. We were both hanging from our harness in the top of the canopy. He didn’t let go. I started laughing. He said, “I’m going to be sick.” I suggested he first recover the airplane by easing off the forward pressure. He repeated his intention to revisit breakfast. I told him I had the airplane…and, please open your oxygen mask on the side away from me!

I pulled the stick back, settling us in our seats, then did a normal spin recovery. As we started out of the ensuing dive with airspeed building back up, his breakfast came back up as well. That is when superior skill and cunning was required along with remarkable aeronautical skills.

I watched the bolus of Cheerios erupt from the far side of his helmet. Deftly I applied forward stick to impose zero G on the airplane. The floating bubble of breakfast moved forward and up from the stick area. Then with an application of right aileron and a bit of right rudder to induce a skid, I placed the floating mass over his lap and returned to positive G to deposit it lightly on his left knee where it could do no harm.

It seems doubtful that he ever really appreciated the airmanship I had demonstrated before him that morning.

(He went on to graduate from pilot training and flew a full and successful career. I doubt he ever did any inverted spins again.)