Recover from a Spin in a Piper Pa28 Warrior
Firstly, the Piper Warrior is NOT CLEARED for intentional spinning. However, should an inadvertent spin occur, this is what you do.
Steps
- Check the ailerons are neutral.
- Close the throttle.
- Apply and maintain full rudder opposite to the direction of the spin.
- Push the control column fully forward.
- When the rotation ceases, centralise the rudder.
- Gently ease back the control column to recover from the dive.
- Fly home and land immediately.
- Explain to the chief flying instructor, who somehow knew what had happened, how you came to be in the spin in the first place.
Warnings
- Putting your PA-28 into a spin to see if you know how to successfully recover from it is a Bad Idea. PA-28's are not certified for spins. Spinning your PA-28 is a good way to remove its wings in flight.
- Things which might cause spins; near miss with A380, seeing how slowly you can fly in an increasingly tight circle. This last one certainly can cause an inadvertent spin.
- As well as relief and a little admiration that you, a novice pilot with only a few solo hours, managed to recover from the spin, there'll be much anger that you got into it.
- Here are things which do NOT cause spins and should not be proposed as reasons; bird strike, clouds, looking at the nav chart, trying to reset the timer on your watch, singing with the joy of flight, explosive decompression.
- Your silence about how it occurred will not help.