Snowbird wrote:
(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?

No and yes; we're happy to deal with the AD considering all the horror
stories I've heard about the aileronectomy.

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.

Ours too, although not in all IMC; there seems to be a critical level of
moisture that causes it. (You've probably heard all the same theories I
have about *why*, I just wish I could make it go away.) The above comment
about driving with the feet does definitely *not* apply when it's doing
this. (It's really also less active than "driving with the feet"; more
like "figuring out how much rudder pressure I need to compensate for the
heavy wing so I can hold approximate heading in uncoordinated flight long
enough to go deal with whatever I need to deal with.)

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.

All I can say is it really happened! We were playing with all of the
electronics on the delivery flight, and decided to see how the Century I
did with course tracking. I'd read 2^n pieces of advice about how they
don't work worth beans unless they start out on course and on heading, so
I took some time getting everything perfectly dialed in and on the beam
and then settled back to watch, but never actually switched it on. I
*was* periodically tweaking the pitch trim to hold approximate
altititude. The plane eventually went into a very gradual right bank,
and we waited a bit for enough of a CDI deviation for the C-1 to kick in
with a course correction, and only twigged to what was really going on
after we were 20 degrees off and getting (slowly) worse. The air was
smooth as glass, and the two pilots on board were inert if not
somnolescent.

I was reading the first part and thinking maybe you're just a
stud-muffin ace pilot...

No worries there!

...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.

Hmm. I've flown a few four-seat Grummans (though I'm *far* from being
Mike LeTrello), and while the experience related above is indeed so far a
unique one, I've never felt like I couldn't let go of the controls for a
bit for some vaguely-straight-and-level. Maybe I've just got looser
tolerances for what I'm willing to recover from after I finish fishing
around in the back seat?

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

Thanks! And vice-versa, too. Might even be at Baraboo...