Air Test ESP

Piper’s remarkable Meridian M500

Orbiting – rather appropriately – high above Florida’s famous Space Coast I study the instrument panel intently.

Having carefully doublechecked that all of the automatic systems are disengaged I grasp the yoke and introduce an increasingly steep roll to port. As the PFD’s roll pointer approaches some small indices at the 45 degree mark I begin to feel a steadily increasing resistance through the yoke. Having muscled the aircraft into a 60-degree bank I release the yoke and watch fascinated as the aircraft smoothly but firmly rolls itself ‘wings level’.