Spin Awareness & Recovery
A spin is an aggravated stall that results in autorotation — one wing is more stalled than the other, so the airplane descends in a corkscrew while yawing and rolling. Spin awareness is required knowledge for Private and Commercial; actual spin training/recovery is required for CFI applicants. The standard light-airplane recovery is the PARE sequence.
Step by step
- 1Recognize the entry: a stall with yaw (uncoordinated flight) is what turns a stall into a spin — the classic cause is a skidding, cross-controlled turn.
- 2P — Power: reduce throttle to idle.
- 3A — Ailerons: neutralize the ailerons.
- 4R — Rudder: apply full rudder OPPOSITE the direction of rotation to stop the yaw.
- 5E — Elevator: briskly move the elevator forward (reduce AOA) to break the stall.
- 6As rotation stops, neutralize the rudder and smoothly recover from the resulting dive — avoid a secondary stall and respect airspeed/G limits.
- 7Always confirm the spin recovery procedure in your specific airplane’s POH, as some require different technique.
Tips & common errors
- PARE: Power idle, Ailerons neutral, Rudder opposite, Elevator forward — then recover from the dive.
- Prevention is everything: keep stalls coordinated (ball centered) and never skid a low, slow turn.
- Use opposite rudder to stop rotation BEFORE moving the elevator forward; doing it out of order can aggravate the spin.
- Follow the POH — placards and approved spin technique vary by aircraft; not all light airplanes are approved for intentional spins.
ACS completion standards
The commonly-tested tolerances for this maneuver. Always confirm the current ACS for your certificate.
- Private/Commercial: demonstrate knowledge of spin aerodynamics, entry conditions, and recovery (awareness — not a flight demonstration).
- CFI: instruct and perform spin entry, incipient/developed spin, and a proper recovery to coordinated flight.
- Apply the correct (POH/PARE) recovery and respect airspeed and load-factor limits in the pullout.
FAA source
FAA-S-ACS-6 / FAA-S-ACS-7 (Spin Awareness) and FAA-S-ACS-25 (Flight Instructor, Spin demonstration); Airplane Flying Handbook FAA-H-8083-3, Chapter 4.
This is an original, plain-English study summary grounded in the public-domain FAA Airman Certification Standards and FAA handbooks cited above. It is a study aid, not flight instruction, and not a substitute for the official ACS, the handbooks, your aircraft’s POH/AFM, or a certificated flight instructor.
Related maneuvers
- Maneuvering During Slow FlightSlow flight is sustained flight at a low airspeed just above the stall warning, where the airplane is on the back side of the power curve and controls feel mushy. You learn to control altitude, heading, and airspeed precisely with coordinated use of pitch, power, and trim. Per the current ACS, slow flight is flown at a speed above the one that would activate the stall warning.
- Power-Off Stall (Approach-to-Landing Stall)A power-off stall simulates the stall that can occur in the approach/landing configuration — power reduced, flaps and gear down, descending. You recognize the aerodynamic stall (buffet, mushy controls, stall warning) and recover promptly with minimum altitude loss.
- Power-On Stall (Departure Stall)A power-on stall simulates the stall that can happen on takeoff or initial climb — takeoff power, takeoff/departure configuration, nose high. Torque and P-factor make the airplane want to roll/yaw left, so coordinated rudder is essential to a clean recovery.
- Accelerated (Maneuvering) StallAn accelerated stall demonstrates that an airplane can stall at a higher-than-normal airspeed whenever the load factor is increased — for example in a steep, level turn. The increased G raises the stall speed, so the wing reaches its critical angle of attack while the airspeed is still well above the 1G stall speed.
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