Stall and Spin Recovery Techniques.
     Alright, we are have now entered a dreaded spin at a most inoppertune time.  The enemy we were trying desperately to avoid is on our tail, we have lost our padlock view, the world is spinning, we are getting disorrientated, losing S.A.,and we are losing precious altitude without gaining speed - this really is a bad situation!
    We now know all the reasons why we are in a spin, so all we have to do is reverse them.  Remember that one wing has stalled, is creating no lift and lots of drag, and that drag is yawing the aircraft to the side with the stalled wing.  Meanwhile the other wing is creating maximum lift and less drag than the stalled wing, so it is constantly being pushed forward, resulting in the yawing towards the stalled wing.  There are a couple of things that must be done as quickly as possible if we are to get out of the spin quickly.
      1.  Neutralise the elevator.
        2.  Apply full opposite rudder to the stalled wing.

These two actions are usually enough to get out of a spin.  Here are the reasons why this is so :-
        1.  We now have one wing over the critical AOA, and one wing under it.  By bringing the elevators back to a central position, we decrease the AOA on both wings, so that they both get back under the critical AOA to a stage where they are producing equal lift.  Doing this alone will not get you out of a spin in EAW, but it is a must.
        2.  By hitting full opposite rudder to the stalled wing, we are aiming to yaw the aircraft back so that it meets the airflow straight on.  This cures the AOA Differential, gives the "shaded" wing root full airflow, and allows both wings to have the same airspeed.  This will cancel out the lift differential between both wings, and will pop you out of the spin.  Be patient, as you may have to wait a few spins until you recover.
                                               Use of the stick.
    In the EAW manual it says to push the stick to the side of the stalled wing as well as applying full rudder to the opposite side that you pushed the stick.  I have found that use of the stick is not neccesary - the aircraft will soon pop out of the spin without ailerons.  Remember that if the airflow has stalled over one wing, then that aileron is inopperable anyway .  Also, why would you want to keep the aircraft spinning in that direction anyway?  The only reason I can think of for jamming the stick to one side, is that it helps you to quickly co-ordinate which side to apply full opposite rudder.  Quick thinking is vital here, but try it without stick, and you will find that it works just as well.

                                             Cutting power.
    The EAW manual also says that you shouldn't adjust the power setting.  I feel that this has some merrit, because you want to build up airspeed as soon as you can, but because one wing is dragging so much, you will not build up any airspeed until you recover from your spin.  If you happen to be at full power as you enter a spin, you are really just wasting power and un-neccesarily heating up the engine for no reason.  For this reason, I like to cut the power back down to 10% or so until I have recovered from the spin, and then hit full power to build up airspeed.

                                             Cutting power to one engine.
    Another area that people have experimented with while flying twin engine aircraft such as the Bf-110, is to cut power to one engine.  This in theory is a great idea, but it requires you to cut the  power to an engine on the correct side at the same time as you are doing all the neccesary stick, rudder and throttle movements, and then fire it up again to full power once you've recovered.  Unless you can quickly and confidently do all this at the same time, you are probably losing more than you gain.
    However, if you are in a prolonged spin, or can confidently and quickly do the recovery procedure (Setting a Macro button on your controller would be a good way), here is the way to do it.  In addition to the above mentioned routine, you should cut the power to the engine on the same side that you are ruddering to, and apply full power to the other engine.  This adds to the effect of the rudder, and helps to swing the stalled wing forward, and push the 'unstalled' wing backwards.  The problem here is that once you come out of the spin, if you are too slow to fire up the engine again, the engine on the formerly stalled wing will keep pulling that wing forward, yawing the aircraft too far and putting you into a spin in the other direction!  It is for this reason that I don't bother shutting down engines.  If your initial reaction is quick enough, then you can get out of a spin before using  these extra measures.  Feel free to experiment with it, and let me know if you have any success with it.
                                           Dropping landing gear.
    I have heard that some people have found that dropping the gear will bring them out of a spin after a few spins (when coupled to the usual recovery routine).  Aerodynamically, I can't see why this should work, but if it does work for you, use it by all means.  Be wary though, because having the gear down will drain airspeed rapidly, so retract it the moment you exit the spin.  Once again, if your spin recovery routine is quick enough, you shouldn't need this.
                                           Flat spins.
     Flat spins are a peculiarity of EAW that seems to crop up commonly with the Bf-110.  Once you get into a spin situation, sometimes the aircraft makes itself spin in a horizontal plane.  If your initial attempt at recovery doesn't work, relax the controls, and after a while the aircraft will get back into a more "conventional" spin, and you should be able to recover from there.  Be aware that sometimes the aircraft slowly stops spinning, then reverses it spinning motion!  Wierd, huh?  If this happens, be ready to switch over your recovery technique.  Watch the airspeed colours carefully to see if you are getting out of the spin
                                           Tumbling spins.
     I have only encountered these when attempting "hammerheads" or "tailslides", and usually in twin engined aircraft.  With the latter move, you climb vertically up keeping the wings perfectly level and your nose straight up, until airspeed stops and gravity pulls the nose down into a vertical dive.  Sometimes here you will go into a tumbling spin where the aircraft spins nose over tail, or the nose swings like a pendulum.  The longer you can keep the nose straight up before inverting, the more likely you are to go-a-tumblin'.  To get out of these I try to synchronise the stick movements with the way the nose is swinging (pull back if the nose is rising, then push forward if the nose is dropping - kind of like a deep stall routine in Falcon 4.0 for those who know it.), and eventually the pendulum motion slows down and a conventional spin begins to take over.  Use the usual recovery techniques from here.
                                           Recovering from your "recovery"
    This is an area that needs some attention, because if you don't do it right, you will find yourself straight back into another spin.  As you pop out of the spin, you are using full rudder.  As you snap out of the spin, you are still near the critical AOA, and if you hold the rudder for too long you will simply yaw the aircraft too far the opposite way and start spinning in the opposite direction.  At this stage, you should gently release the rudder,  apply full power, and keep the elevators central.  You will probably find yourself diving which is a good way to build up speed.  Continue flying along with gentle inputs to the elevators and rudder, as you build up speed ensuring that your airspeed display stays in the green. Gently pull out of your dive, and once you have saved your skin here, quickly re-aquire your oppenent in the padlock view, and be ready for his attack, because while all this spinning has been going on, the enemy will probably have moved into an advantageous position, and will be preparing to blast you out of the sky!

    So, to sum it all up, here is a quick checklist of what you should do the moment you enter a spin.  For an example, lets assume that we are in an anticlockwise spin with the left wing stalled and dropping fast, and the right wing producing maximum lift.  The neccesary directions for this example are in brackets.
      1.  Neutralise the elevators
        2.  Push the stick in the direction of the spin or the stalled wing (LEFT / ANTICLOCKWISE)
        3.  Apply full rudder in the opposite direction to the stalled wing (RIGHT)
        4.  Cut the power to 10%
                  Once you pop out of the spin, then you should: -
      5.  Slowly release the rudder, and centralise the stick
        6.  Apply 100% power, keep the nose down to build up speed until the airspeed is green
        7.  Gently pull out of your dive making sure that you don't pull up and put the airspeed into the yellow.
        8.  Re-padlock your target and come up with some lifesaving moves!!

    On the whole, it is a lot easier to avoid the spin in the first place, and the next section will deal with that.

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