On May 30, 3:36*am, "Hilton" wrote:
Why? *Because all posts have made the (probably) incorrect assumption that
the aircraft somehow fly wings-levels to its demise. *That just won't
happen. *Forget dihedral, that won't stop it going into a spiral.

You're right, of course. The only way that will happen is with
artificial stability augmentation (a single axis autopilot). With a
two axis autopilot the plane will hit at stall speed. It may or may
not be wings level, depending on the stall characteristics.

See, this is what made the question such a good one. It allows lots
of room to explore different aspects of aerodynamic stability.

Michael