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

"James Robinson" wrote in message
. ..
Pilot reported heavy downdraft over Lancaster, CA, resulting in crash.

http://www.orovillemr.com/news/chico/ci_4917367

Can somebody explain what he did right/wrong?

Are there any more details on how he "crashed" an airplane that was
apparently out of control, but didn't die? He must have had control of the
airplane when it hit the ground, but if he had control he wouldn't have hit
the ground.

Danny Deger

On Tue, 2 Jan 2007 10:58:30 -0800, James Robinson wrote
(in article ):

Pilot reported heavy downdraft over Lancaster, CA, resulting in crash.

http://www.orovillemr.com/news/chico/ci_4917367

Can somebody explain what he did right/wrong?

I doubt very much that he was in a death spiral. Stiff downdrafts are very
common in the area. You can't climb out of them. You either turn away from
the mountain or you start picking up speed and get out of there (you get to
ride the elevator up on the other side of the mountain, so a little descent
to pick up speed doesn't cost you nearly as much as the amount you will
descend if you stay there).

I remember one night another Bonanza got into trouble with a downdraft near
there. The pilot was pretty panicky on the radio. He got below minimum
terrain clearance and was trying to circle (!) to climb up again. Fortunately
he somehow flew out of it, probably learning the wrong lesson in the process.