Newps,

Interesting that you didn't care for the stabilator. Which model did
you own? The gearing of the stabilator was "fastest" in the original
177, changed to slightly "slow" it a bit in the 177A and a bit more in
the 177B. I did a lot of instruction in the "no letter" and then in
the B models and found that pilots used to Cherokees (stabilators) or
172s and 182s (elevators) where the pitch control authority diminished
a lot when slowed for the approach often overcontrolled the Cardinal
because its controls remained so very effective at slow speeds. It did
lead to broken nose wheels and bent firewalls because pilots
overcontrolled the 177 series due to the very effective controls (you
have to go to the Grumman singles of later years to find airplanes that
were as light and nice on the controls).

Because of my pleasant experience instructing in Cardinals I later
bought a 177B and put about 1,100 hours on it, flying it over much of
the U.S. east of the Rockies.

At 6'4" I really loved the Cardinal because I could slide the seat back
and recline it so I was very comfortable and had plenty of headroom.
The seats were very comfortable and I made some flights that lasted
over 5 hours because they were comfortable enough to do so. I also
liked the extremely effective controls when it came time to land in
strong crosswinds. I'll land a Cardinal in stronger crosswinds than
I'd attempt with almost any other single, just because it is so
controllable.

All the best,
Rick