Downdraft at 12,000 feet

"Jose" wrote in message
. net...

No certificated GA plane is unstable in roll.

Uh, even an Archer is unstable in roll. I went out and tried it myself.

Are you using a different definition of "unstable"? Here's what I did: I
went up on a calm night, trimmed for straight and level flight, and let go
of the controls. The plane flew nicely for about a minute or three, by
which time the aircraft had gotten itself into about a half standard rate
turn, which kept tightening. It took a good few minutes to get to that
point, but it did so every time (and not always in the same direction).
So, on the larger scale, it is unstable in roll, albeit not =very=
unstable in roll. Small excursions lead to larger excursions. It does
require active attention to fly it.

I agree 100% with what you are saying about instability. In my C35 Bonanza,
the roll off would happen fairly fast.

Danny Deger