When the plane goes into a spin

Wings Level - the name says it all. At Hanspeter Leemann and Andrea Salomoni's flying school, everything revolves around getting the aircraft back into the correct flying position from an abnormal flight condition. Or not getting into this situation in the first place.

Interview Evelyn Pesentheiner

Flight safety is close to their hearts. Andrea Salomoni and Hanspeter Leemann opened their flight school "Wings Level" in 2022. The special thing about it is that the focus is not on basic training, but on further training. With their "Upset Prevention and Recovery Seminars" (UPRS), they want to sensitize pilots to the limits of aerodynamics. The "AeroRevue" met her at her first "Defy Gravity Meet-Up" in Raron and talked to Andrea Salomoni about goals, motivation and safety. Practical experience of spin recovery in the Cessna C150 Aerobat included.

"AeroRevue": Mr. Salomoni, why is it important for trained pilots to undergo further training in flight safety?

Andrea Salomoni: The training program for pilots is based on certain legislation and has hardly changed in many areas for years. But our aircraft and equipment have changed a lot. If you think of a modern Tecnam or Bristell aircraft, for example, they have a glass cockpit. Or the navigation. In training, we flew with paper charts, now we fly with ForeFlight, for example. Many new topics have never really been introduced. That's why we think it's important for pilots to continue their training and keep up to date.

Safety is also an issue for the recurring, mandatory check flights. Is that not enough?

The EASA regulations for a check flight are pretty basic. You are never in a situation where you have to use all your skills. The stall exercises are usually limited to "approach to stall". You don't practise a complete stall. And navigation in challenging weather is also not part of a check flight. Sure, you can't wait for bad weather and then carry out a check. The check must be realistic, but also possible. Training can do much more. The check confirms that you are well trained, but it's the training that counts. The trend at major airlines has been moving in this direction for some time.

So you could say that with Wings Level a pilot practices maneuvers that he can't practice on his own?

Yes, because a responsible pilot will never go to the limits that you should never exceed on your own. Wings Level's instructors are here to help pilots explore these aerodynamic and human limits. We show, as an experience, where a situation can develop if something goes wrong, and how it can be restored to normal flight attitude. But the most important thing is to know how to prevent. Prevention accounts for ninety percent of our training. "Recovery" always comes last. We want our students to be able to anticipate a problem and solve it before it comes to the worst.

And that motivated Hanspeter Leemann and you to set up a flight school with a focus on further training?

Hampi and I are both active as flight instructors at other large flight schools. We see many future airline pilots. They all have the same deficits in their skills. It's not a lack of talent, it's a lack of training. And we have seen that there is a flight school in the USA, for example, that specializes in this area. Major airlines and even military pilots turn to this school. The realization that there is also a need for this in Switzerland was a great motivation for us.

The training that Wings Level offers for future professional pilots leads to an official diploma, correct?

For a few years now, legislation has stipulated that every multi-crew pilot must undergo "Advanced Upset Prevention and Recovery Training" (AUPRT) before their first type rating. We will be certified as an ATO in fall 2024. Then you can officially obtain this certificate with us. We specialize in "Upset Recovery Training" for future professional pilots, but also, and this is very important to us, for private pilots. Because it doesn't matter whether I'm flying an Airbus A320 or a Piper PA-28. We are all flying in the same skies and need to be safe.

So private pilots also receive this certificate after training with you?

No, we do an "Upset Recovery Seminar" with private pilots. This is something we created at Wings Level. Basically, it has a similar structure to an "Advanced Upset Recovery". But because the private pilot doesn't legally need this certificate, we give them something that is tailored to their needs. Example: If you fly in the mountains, we work on topics that are important for mountain flying.

What characterizes an "Upset Recovery Seminar"?

The interesting thing is that we recapitulate an accident that really happened. And then we show how the story could have ended differently if the pilot had intercepted his aircraft correctly. The seminars are divided into different levels of difficulty and cover much more than an "Advanced Upset Recovery" if a pilot completes all three levels.

Back to the needs. What are the main concerns of private pilots?

Ninety percent of the pilots who come to us want us to show them something that their flight instructors never showed them. For example, how to end a "full stall", i.e. a complete stall. Or an asymmetric stall. That's what our customers ask for most of all. And then, of course, "spin recovery", i.e. the recovery of a spinning aircraft, because most of them have never seen a real spin, a real vrille.

 

What do you like about safety work with pilots in training?

It's very interesting for me to see how people get into the plane and the look on their faces when they get out again after the exercise. I had a very talented pilot who froze when the plane went into a spin. There was nothing he could do and the plane was about to fall out of the sky. I took over and when we were back in normal flying position, he said it was the most incredible experience of his life as a pilot. I said, "Okay, we'll do it again, this time together." When we got off the plane, I told him that I didn't have to help at all. And then I saw in his face this "Okay, now I know what to do."

Wings Level operates from various airfields. This is rather unusual for a flight school. How is the concept being received?

We go where there is a need. For example, we have a partnership with Neuchâtel and Raron. The people in charge are very open. We are here to help, not to compete with other flight schools. The idea is to hold a "Defy Gravity Meet-Up" in Raron every year. We do the "Upset Recovery Seminars" where there is a need. If a flight school calls us, we go there with our aircraft.

Shouldn't pilots be trained locally on their own or chartered aircraft?

No. The problem is that our training is really based on "upset recovery". So the aircraft has to be certified for these maneuvers. If someone were to come with an aircraft that is not certified for this, it would not only be illegal, but above all dangerous. We work with our own aircraft because this is not the kind of exercise that the pilots are supposed to train themselves afterwards. It's not about them going and flying a spin after they've flown a spin with us. That would be very dangerous. We want them to experience an exceptional situation in a controlled environment.

Why "Upset Recovery Seminars" and not aerobatic training?

"Upset recovery" and aerobatics are two different things. We also offer aerobatics training. But aerobatic maneuvers are deliberate maneuvers. We train flying precision. I want to do a loop, I want to do a spin. A spin that I deliberately initiate is not an upset situation. The problem is: what happens to me if I don't know what a spin looks like and I get into it unintentionally? When I do aerobatics, I know what I'm doing. I can fly figures incorrectly, in which case they are not pretty to look at, but the movement is intentional. "Upset" comes unexpectedly.

What advice would you like to give pilots?

Flying is cool and a lot of fun. But there are risks and it is important that pilots understand how an airplane flies, keyword aerodynamics. And the most important thing is experience. You can read a lot in books, but things sometimes look very different in real life. Once we understand where the limits are, we can fly more safely.