crkcrk. Re the 'duck and cat' on-board equipment, you forgot the parrot. Parrots sound off like a stall-warner when one is about to flare, as reported by pilots delivering parrots by air.
Regarding spinning, twice due to a combination of circumstances I've spun through a hole in the undercast to save life. And on one occasion (referencing the post above) encountering increasing headwinds as the sun went down, with no visible instruments in a Jodel D.9 and the fuel indicator (cork and wire) jammed in the 'full' position despite all sorts of manoeuvres to free it; sea fog drifting in obscuring the dark bit where I thought the airfield ought to be, I was grateful for the airport operator's Land Rover parked on the threshold with a rotating beacon and headlights illuminating the runway. On touchdown the fuel float dropped into the bottom of the tank with an audible clang and the engine stopped by itself when I parked at the hangar. Fuel endurance was 2.5 hrs. with a 1600cc VW motor with a 6.1 Imp gal tank, which is why my later Flitzer series with VWs had an additional 2.4 gals or 4 gals for bigger 1834 or 2100cc motors.
As for spinning, the Flitzers spin fast, more than 360 degrees/sec. (viewable on You Tube) and each of the Flitzer series recovers from a developed spin (up to 8-turns tested) within 1/4 turn using a conventional recovery technique. It's virtually instantaneous using the Mueller method. Light, relatively short wings contribute to this behaviour.
As to the remainder of this post, for sure one must learn from one's mistakes and those of others, because one will never live long enough to make them all oneself, to quote someone wiser than me.
