DC-3/C-47 stall spin

MikeD

MikeD

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From back in August 1997 apparently, haven’t seen this one before. Skydiving in TX, maybe a combination of slow speed, divers moving the CG aft, and the apparent unforgiving stall/spin characteristics of this plane. Recovered reportedly at around 4000 MSL or so. But man, pointed straight down like that, I’d be shocked if there wasn’t a VNE exceedence, and wonder if anything bent or separated. Exterior and interior video.

View: https://youtube.com/watch?v=EFyyLbD-Y7o&pp=ygUKZGMtMyBzcGluIA%3D%3D
 
News story: “Man has diarrhea all over fellow skydivers”. That’s definitely a crap your pants moment.
 
phill1174 said:
News story: “Man has diarrhea all over fellow skydivers”. That’s definitely a crap your pants moment.
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Especially the in-cabin helmet cam of the last skydiver trying to scramble aft to the cargo door and bailout while the plane is entering its spin and heading vertically to earth.
 
MikeD said:
From back in August 1997 apparently, haven’t seen this one before. Skydiving in TX, maybe a combination of slow speed, divers moving the CG aft, and the apparent unforgiving stall/spin characteristics of this plane. Recovered reportedly at around 4000 MSL or so. But man, pointed straight down like that, I’d be shocked if there wasn’t a VNE exceedence, and wonder if anything bent or separated. Exterior and interior video.

View: https://youtube.com/watch?v=EFyyLbD-Y7o&pp=ygUKZGMtMyBzcGluIA%3D%3D
Click to expand...
Recovered in two turns. I’m impressed.
 
MikeD said:
From back in August 1997 apparently, haven’t seen this one before. Skydiving in TX, maybe a combination of slow speed, divers moving the CG aft, and the apparent unforgiving stall/spin characteristics of this plane. Recovered reportedly at around 4000 MSL or so. But man, pointed straight down like that, I’d be shocked if there wasn’t a VNE exceedence, and wonder if anything bent or separated. Exterior and interior video.

View: https://youtube.com/watch?v=EFyyLbD-Y7o&pp=ygUKZGMtMyBzcGluIA%3D%3D
Click to expand...
Haven't watched the vid yet, but as a general rule, while in-spin, airspeed does not increase a whole lot. A poorly executed recovery is when the wings can come off.

edit: ok, just got the vid to load. IDK, looked like a text book spin recovery in a single... pretty impressive for a twin. He might have held the downline a bit long, but that's not to be judged from watching an exterior only viewpoint. As mentioned, airspeed is typically very slow in a spin. Gotta let the wings start flying again before pulling out.
 
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Not a bad recovery. The dive before recovering toward level seemed longer than necessary, then again - I haven’t spun a DC-3 so that’s just a WAG on my part.

Okay, now take that energy from the dive and begin the next figure, an avalanche.
 
form810 said:
Haven't watched the vid yet, but as a general rule, while in-spin, airspeed does not increase a whole lot. A poorly executed recovery is when the wings can come off.

edit: ok, just got the vid to load. IDK, looked like a text book spin recovery in a single... pretty impressive for a twin. He might have held the downline a bit long, but that's not to be judged from watching an exterior only viewpoint. As mentioned, airspeed is typically very slow in a spin. Gotta let the wings start flying again before pulling out.
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That’s what I meant, he’s heading downhill rapidly post rotation recovery; and that old airframe isn’t exactly a high G tolerant airframe for pullout. He’s lucky he had the altitude that he did.
 
I think recovery from a deep departure/spin needs to be pretty ginger in most planes. At least all that I have flown. When you do the full approach stall (in the sim, hopefully as close as any of us get to doing it), there is like a 1/4" difference in aft control column movement between getting stick shaker again and smoothly recovering. In the F/A-18 (which I have intentionally spun in a specific dedicated event we have for guys going through initial training), over G in the recovery isn't a concern generally, but departing again definitely is, much like the transport aircraft. It is just a LOT harder to get to that deep of a stall.
 
MikeD said:
That’s what I meant, he’s heading downhill rapidly post rotation recovery; and that old airframe isn’t exactly a high G tolerant airframe for pullout. He’s lucky he had the altitude that he did.
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Pre-CAD I would imagine the airframe is so overbuilt even 70 years of fatigue/corrosion leaves it as strong as many newer aircraft
 
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