Talk:Graveyard spiral

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Article issues[edit]

This page had confusing information on the spin, which I removed. Just as an engine "stall" and an aerodynamic stall are commonly confused by non-aviators and should be carefully differentiated, so, too, do we have a common misinterpretation of "spins" and "spirals." I haven't time to expand today, but I didn't want the wrong information to persist. Quickly, a spin involves low airspeed or high-G flight that exceeds normal angle of attack of one wing and not the other due to uncoordinated flight...it is a "stall-like" occurrence. An (unintentional or "graveyard") spiral involves initially normal flight with an unrecognized bank. Increasing bank angle causes a descent, which the pilot corrects with back pressure, increasing angle of attack and G load. The increased G load serves to tighten the turn, not to point the nose upwards, so the bank angle increases further, speed increases further, and the descent becomes more rapid. The pilot pulls *more* G's because of the descent, causing the above to get even worse until 1) the aircraft strikes terrain at high speed in an almost invariably fatal crash, or 2) the pilot recognizes the bank, rolls wings-level and recovers to straight and level flight. Spirals are high-speed, high-G, essentially "normal" flight, with no aerodynamic stall. Spins always involve excessive angle of attack and an aerodynamic stall. Recovery from spins can be difficult, depending on the aircraft, and some aircraft have unrecoverable spin modes. Spirals are always recoverable with sufficient altitude. Hiobazard (talk) 16:48, 10 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]

The article is confusing because it does not illustrate the linkage between the vestibular system and the initiation of a graveyard spiral. The paragraph on the physiology of the vestibular system seems unrelated to the rest of the article. The article requires some information on how the affected vestibular system leads to pilot disorientation. 88Dutchman (talk) 02:47, 26 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Are the issues resolved as the result of these edits?--CaroleHenson (talk) 18:54, 25 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

"you"[edit]

... shouldn't be used in articles, but the article uses it in many places. --mfb (talk) 02:09, 29 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for drawing that problem to our attention. I have erased references to “you” and replaced with references to “the pilot”. Dolphin (t) 09:09, 29 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Image[edit]

Aren't the spiral and spin labelled incorrectly in the image? Going from personal albeit limited knowledge as an aviation technician plus the comment above from Hiobazard, it seems the blue line would be the spiral and the red line with the AC in an uncontrolled roll could be depicting a spin (or not). A flat spin I believe is what Hiobazard describes above where the AC is essentially falling in a stall condition with uncontrolled yaw rotation. So the AC is in a relatively horizontal orientation but falling downwards and spinning as it falls. I'm not sure what the uncontrolled roll would be called, possibly a spin just not a flat spin? 185.13.50.176 (talk) 14:12, 5 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]