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They call it "spin awareness" or "spin avoidance" nowadays. I'm not sure what this involves or at which point during training it's covered but I'm told the practical spins & recovery that were once compulsory are now discouraged if not forbidden. I believe it's very difficult to spin some modern trainers so it wouldn't be possible anyway. If this is the case I can only think that there must be a considerable number of qualified pilots out there today that have never experienced a spin & have very little idea of how to recover from one.

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I love the Skipper too, but if I remember correctly, its useful load is evn less than a Tomahawk, by 15 lbs or so. I think they're both delightful planes.

I've seen where some people have installed 110hp engines in Tomahawks,, which really just makes them a tad faster and safer. That doesn't raise their certified, useful load though (that I've seen, anyway).

I think.. with modern engines (more HP / same weight) and little reinforcement of the landing gear and wings.. A Tomahawk could easily carry another 150lbs.. Which would make it a great, two-seat touring plane..

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Well worth doing. Try reading the spin recovery placard in the cockpit whilst you do a spin...

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I make no claims to be an aerodynamics expert & all this theoretical stuff makes my head spin [pun intended]. It's also a long time since I was involved in it so it might be best if I quit while I'm ahead.

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One comment. Not sure I understand what you're getting at here. Which direction is it accelerating sidewards? If the downward acceleration has any effect on AoA it would surely decrease it.

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Just guessing, but by ratio, I'd guess that those fractional accelerations are the displaced lift of 1G from level flight... And the "sideways" vector is relative to the earth.  Or is it relative to the banked airplane, and a product of gravity, which is now acting on the plane from an angle ?

I see where your going with this, in that if a plane is flying level; and then banked; one way or another (sans pitch change), the now, other than perpendicular to the Earth lift, will "pull" the plane, initiating a turn. High performance plane or not; dihedral or no; symetrical airfoil or not.

And as Hagar noted; The reduction in the vertical vector component (downward acceleration), would cause a decrease in AoA.. Unless of course, we're tlaking about a plane with an "other than normal" CG... which of course throws a monkey wrench into it all, as there would be notable pitch/trim while in level flight, that would in turn (depending on airplane geometry)be an effective pitch change as soon as the bank began.

I love discussions like this as much as anyone, but this seems to be a discusion looking for ways disagree. Every scenario we'd come up with, has way too many variables in airplane design and loading.

Airplanes aren't spheres, so when they stop flying and start falling.. they're gonna do some aerodynamic "stuff".. and eventually, settle into some sort of "stability", that we call a spin.

A good answer would be:

Why wouldn't an airplane spin ?

Interesting read and so many correct answers. 

In my humble opinion taking spin training out of the Private Pilot curriculum is or would be a very big mistake.

It should also be mandatory for Flying Instructors.

I would also like to see some limited aerobatic instruction taught in the Private Pilot Course however I do realize this does add to the cost of the program.

I would suggest though once you have obtained a flying licence like the "Recreational Permit or the Private Pilots Licence that you take it upon yourself to seek out an Aerobatic Instructor and obtain five (5) hours of theory and actual flying from him.

I think you will be amazed at what you just might learn. 

You will also find yourself with a tiny bit more confidence and flying ability if the tower controller advises you of the possibility of wind shear or wake turbulence.

Cheers...Happy Landings...Doug

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A little more expensive it may be, but all to often now we hear of people who have not been taught aerobatics, or even know how to go about performing them sensibly, killing themselves. Even worse would be doing them untaught without any spin training, or experience of incipient spin recovery, most likely to happen if mishandling aeros.

A lot less costly than dying anyway.