Spin Recovery Failure

Spin training-instruction in how to enter and recover from spins-used to be part of the private pilot curriculum. It was discontinued a few decades ago, in part because it was blamed for a drop-off in the number of students who completed their training and earned their private certificate. These days, the only required spin training is for the initial flight instructor certificate and one of the most popular line of airplanes-the Cirrus SR20 and SR22-come with an airframe parachute in lieu of demonstrated spin recovery capability.

Key Takeaways:

• Spin training, once a requirement for private pilots, was discontinued due to student attrition and is now only mandatory for flight instructors, with some modern aircraft utilizing airframe parachutes as an alternative to demonstrated spin recovery.
• The current lack of universal spin training for primary students is linked to an increase in loss-of-control accidents, as exemplified by a fatal Cessna 162 Skycatcher crash where the pilot failed to recover from an inadvertent spin.
• Despite airplanes still being susceptible to spins and the availability of recovery procedures, the industry's "status quo" leaves primary pilots without mandatory spin training, potentially contributing to their inability to recover from such events.

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