spin recovery or not

[Paul Hill]

Don't you just hate breaking models.

Now I'm trying to puzzle out what went wrong, I've been flying the same model for over ten years but last night after putting it into a stall then a spin to the right recovered then with still plenty of height spun it to the left, let the sticks go to neutral and the model continued to spin slowly, applied full up elevator to try and pull her out but no response, it went straight in. All the damage is forward of the leading edge with no signs of damage elsewhere, engine / fire wall in one hand the plane in other. Before moving it the elevator was still fully up, my last input. The radio gear 35MHz JR all in good working order, my question is why did it not pull out. Would I be right in thinking the wing was still stalled and due to the slow spin there was not enough air flow over the flying surfaces to re-gain control? My normal recover would be to centre the sticks then as the model stops spinning apply up elevator and power, this time I was running out of height and applied up before she had stop spinning.

I'm sure you'll all tell me where I went wrong.

Regards
Paul

[John Rickett]

Paul,

If the wing is stalled, then down elevator is required to lower the angle of attack, not up - that will only keep it in the stall. Lowering the angle of attack will get the air flowing smoothly over the wing again and generate the lift required, after which you can gently apply up elevator.

[Clive Hall]

Classic spin recovery:
Power on, nose down, rudder opposite to the spin; then when the rotation stops centre the rudder quickly to prevent the spin simply carrying on with the opposite rotation, level the wings and pull out of the dive. Resume normal flight.
Pulling up guarantees the spin will be locked in all the way to ground level.

[Paul Hill]

Thanks Clive & John
Lesson learnt the hard way, it all makes sense now.

[Chris Lane]

Or put the old way:-

1. Unstall the wing(=stick forward)
2. Stop the rotation (=opposite rudder)
3. Recover (=lift the nose)

The application of power gives greater effectiveness to the elevator and rudder at low airspeeds but is not an option with sailplanes! For most conventional aircraft centralising the controls usually stops the spin at once.

Chris