Spin is an aggravated stall that results in an airplane descending in a helical, or corkscrew path.

• A. A rapid roll
• B. An aggravated stall that results in an airplane descending in a helical, corkscrew path
• C. A stable descent without rotation
• D. A dive without rotation

Answer: (B)

Spins occur when an airplane stalls and, rather than simply sinking, it continues to rotate about its vertical axis while descending in a corkscrew path. After the stall, one wing typically stalls more than the other and some yaw develops, so the airplane enters autorotation and spirals downward. This corkscrew descent is what distinguishes a spin from a simple stall or other motions. It’s not just a rapid roll, which would be mainly rotation about the forward (longitudinal) axis without the sustained turning about the vertical axis. It’s also not a stable descent without rotation, nor a dive without rotation, since both would lack the characteristic corkscrew motion.