VoePass Flight 2283 - Sao Paolo Brazil - 9 Aug 2024

My suspicion would be they did not react quickly enough. As he mentions, the weight of the two engines outboard increases the moment of inertia which produces a flatter spin. You have to stop the rotation with the rudder which must overpower the rotational inertia.

Have you done any spins and training for recovery Richard?
 
I don't think experience with recovering from a conventional spin will provide any insight into recovery from a flat spin.

All the aerodynamic controls become useless because there is little to no air flow over them.

I recall reading of a flat spin recovery where a couple of pilots in a light plane moved themselves as far forward as possible to shift the CG forward of the CP to get the plane to nose down to get air flowing over the wings again.
 
I have recovered from flat spins - it was part of aerobatic training. Certainly you have to make more severe measures. And you are correct, what one can do in an aerobatic biplane may not apply.

I am not sure that a flat spin can even be recovered from in this aircraft though given the heavy mass in the engines and consequent high moment of rotational inertia.
 
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