I just had another glider lesson. Today's topic was spins. Basically, you enter a gentle turn, kick full rudder to the direction you're turning, and keep pulling back the stick to prevent the aircraft from dipping its nose. Once you can't pull the stick back any further, the nose drops and glider starts spinning. All you can see out the canopy are the hills below you, quickly turning around and around and around as you get closer and closer to them. It spins about once every two seconds, and loses 300 feet per turn, so it's important to get out of it quickly.

To recover, you kick full opposite rudder (opposite to the direction you're turning) and push forward on the stick. The turning stops and suddenly you're diving and picking up speed. If you're like me, you leave the stick forward too long, and everything you're carrying ends up stuck to the top of the canopy...good thing you're strapped into your seat so well. You then pull back to level flight, which is a 3- to 4-g maneuver - you feel the skin on your face pulling down and your head starts to feel a little strange. It's hard to breath, which you notice very well, since you're close to hyperventilating at this point.

Then, suddenly, you're back where you're supposed to be, looking at a normal horizon, and the ground is about a thousand feet closer than it was at the beginning of the exercise...well, at least it is if you're not good at recovering yet.

I didn't do any spins during my private pilot training, but I did a few in a Diamond Katana when I was getting checked out in it a few months ago. The glider spins aren't as scary as the Katana's; they're quite a bit slower and don't throw you around so much.

Next lesson: more spins and emergency procedures.