"Bravo8500" wrote in message
oups.com...
Felt like a sink, but I've never heard that term, only windshear.

We use it mostly in gliders -- sometimes referred to as a downdraft
by power pilots. Glider guiders call updrafts "lift." Typically measured on
a vario(meter) in fps or knots. The only difference between a vario and an
VSI is the vario usually beeps. The pitch and period of the beeps sort of
indicate the velocity. Lift and sink work together -- somewhere in the
vicinity there was a rising volume of air. You were unlucky enough to fly
into the negative half.
Sorry if that seems patronizing or pedantic.
That brings up an autopilot question you might answer for me. If you
had not disconnected the autopilot, could it have taken you into a stall?