On Fri, 09 Jan 2004 02:03:13 GMT, Robert Moore
wrote:

ArtP wrote

By my calculations, if I am flying in cruise it would take a tail wind
gust of 56 knots to stall me.

That's not the type of gust being discussed, try "vertical" gust.

Since the maximum vertical gust that the plane is designed to handle
is 30 knots (3000 feet per second) based upon a 30 kt vector and a 120
kt vector by my calculations the maximum change in the AOA before
reaching the design limit of the plane should be 14 degrees. An upward
gust would increase the AOA but that would also cause a rapid increase
in altitude which would be naturally corrected by a decrease in AOA
(even if on auto pilot). A downward gust would similarly be corrected
by trying to regain altitude. At cruise altitude in a small plane
neither of these should be particularly exciting as long as you don't
bounce off the ceiling too hard, something that is less likely at Va
than at a higher speed.