Page 305 - Demo

301ble. He started his spin recovery calmly and deliberately. As I was being thrown around, I can remember wishing that he would speed it up a bit. He got as far as the turn needle when there was a loud bang followed by heavy vibration.My next recollection is that I was flying the aircraft basically straight and level and wondering what had gone wrong. I think we may have been at FL100 (10,000ft) and whilst I was a little worried that we might have hit something I can recall looking fixedly at the propeller disc. (Which was not there). After a moment or two I realised that I would have to shut the engine down. I went for the ESDL (Engine Shut Down Lever) but my oxygen tube was in the way. I always pull as much of the tube through the holder as possible when I strap in and usually hold the lever after take off to stop the student inadvertently shutting down the engine instead of taking the flap up. I cannot totally recall doing so on this sortie but it is highly likely. Anyway, the oxygen tube was still in the way and I had to manoeuvre my hand past it. I then felt the ESDL guard and had to reach around behind that to operate the lever. It was not easy. I was conscious of the need to hold the aircraft more or less level at the same time and so I could not look down to see the lever. Once operated nothing seemed to change.From now on things became very confusing and I am not sure in what order it all happened. The front cockpit filled with smoke and I could no longer see Dode. I could hear him coughing and was worried about him. A sheet of flame appeared around the right hand side of the aircraft. I put out a Mayday call announcing that I would shortly be ejecting and asked Dode to give me guard. He called out that he was tightening his straps at some point and I attempted to do the same whilst still retaining control. I decided that we would have to eject but felt that we were too high. Although we had started the spin over a very rural area there was a little village near by that I now know was Wetwang. I thought that if I could get down to about 2000ft I could better ensure that the aircraft would not hit it. I think I did a tight right spiral to lose height. I was concerned to get Dode out quickly whilst at the same time get-