(andrew m. boardman) wrote in message ...
FWIW, our AA5B does fine hands-off if the pitch trim is OK, even in
bouncy stuff, using one's feet to keep it vaguely straight.

I don't know what to say about this.

Do you have aileron trim? Do you have the 100 hr aileron AD
or the terminating condition?

Even if we start out with the trim tabs perfectly adjusted
for the load we have at the moment (very tough, since it
would require test-flying the specific load for each trip
and tweaking the trim tabs -- but we've actually done this
for some long trips), truly full fuel, and change tanks
every half an hour, by the end of that half hour Tigger
will be pulling noticably to the left or right, and if
we take our hand off the yoke, he will immediately start
a bank in one or the other direction.

He becomes noticably left-wing heavy in rain, to the extent
that if I'm flying under the hood I can tell immediately when
I enter and exit IMC just by the feel of the yoke.

The pitch will change depending on what my daughter is doing.
She can start a desire to climb or descend (and the need to
adjust trim) by transitioning from reading a book to playing
with her dolls -- this is when she's strapped into her booster
seat, let's not discuss precise flying if we let her move about.
This is a wonderful tool for a CFI who can make one fight to
stay on glideslope just by subtle shifts in weight distribution
in his seat (just looking for traffic of course). Set the pitch
trim to be stable in bouncy air, isn't going to happen.

Tigger's rigging has been checked and adjusted to within correct
tolerances. I don't think Tigger is unusual -- our CFI is Mike
LeTrello, head of the AYA Pilot Proficiency Program and if anyone
has flown in a lot of different Grummans and would recognize
something unusual, he'd be the guy.

Once upon a time, in very smooth air (11500' over one of the flat
states), self and copilot went for about 20 minutes thinking that the
autopilot was on when it wasn't; the plane was tracking perfectly.

I have flown in smooth air and have never encountered anything
remotely like this. If our autopilot weren't engaged, we'd know
right away.

I was reading the first part and thinking maybe you're just a
stud-muffin ace pilot who doesn't notice the constant slight
adjustments you're making and I'm a putz, but the above is just
totally foreign to our experience.

You're welcome to come fly Tigger and generalize about 4 place
Grummans after you do.

Cheers,
Sydney