Well Vishnu I'm no guru and I really want to see that video of yours. But having watched my own Aero India videos of the MKI again and again I have found that the flat spin comes immediately after a nose-up and a really small diameter loop - almost a Kulbit that makes the aircraft lose a lot of energy and all its forward velocity. When the aircraft is flat and not moving forward it starts descending. At this stage I have noticed that the canards are placed with one side up and the other side down - i.e they are both pointing in opposite directions.Vishnu wrote:I couldnt for the life of me get my pilot Yuri to explain just how he initiated a flat spin (ie ... what control inputs) ... My Russian translator had no clue what a flat spin was ... Yuri kept going on about angle of attack ... but I never quite understood why a high angle of attack was required to initiate a flat spin in a horizontal plane (am sure BRfites would know)... anyway, its all there on tape ...
Somehow the MKI seems to be so stable in that attitude that it starts losing altitude without tumbling - i.e. in that flat, upright position, and with the canards in "crosswise" positions as described above it appears that the plane begins a flat spin as it descends rather than an uncontrolled descent.
I don't know what is done then - perhaps the TV nozzles may be pointed down and thrust increased to put the plane into nose-down. The recovery from the flat spin always seems to be a nose down and acceleration into faster forward flight.
Just my guess. Did your flat spin come after a Kulbit/loop?