Beggs-Muller Doesn't work on all typical GA planes

[JW Scud]

I'm sure you knew that, not me.

[Colonel]

But what if I want to live in a world where it does?

j/k

It would be nice if Beggs-Muller worked in all airplanes in all spins, but alas ...

It does teach you some good lessons, though.

Bad control inputs can convert a gentle spin into a nasty one.

If I could teach people one thing about spins, that would be it.

[JW Scud]

Did a good one in a 172 today. They key, according to the instructor is, to the left, with some power on and when the stall warning is heard, pull full back and full left rudder.

[Colonel]

Yeah, the 172 with the swept tail, which pleased the MBA's in suits at Cessna,
sure lacks rudder authority. A little power - which pushes on the left side of
the fuselage - certainly helps the yaw (and spin) to the left.

Only planes I can think of with less rudder authority than the 172, are the
Mooney and the Ercoupe (with the so-called rudder pedal conversion).

I like an airplane with a tiny vertical fin and a HUGE rudder, that will happily
fly completely sideways. My old round-tail Maule, for example, will handle
much more crosswind than the later Maules with the HUGE vertical fin and
tiny rudder, which weathervane horribly. The vast majority of pilots seem to
prefer an enormous vertical fin, and virtually no rudder authority, which puzzles
me. Nightmare in a strong crosswind.

I know many pilots don't like spins, but they're enormously fun:



That's Spencer. He's an awful lot of fun. Owns more guns than I do, in fact.