Hi rudderrudderrat
,
This is why I said "cover the controls". The aircraft was in moderate turbulence, enough to give it a nasty bump, but probably not enough to turn it over. My suspicion is that the bump that hit at roughly the same time as A/P disconnect is the cause of that roll. It's a nasty rate, for sure - but if you're in turbulence, it's rare for it it last long enough to turn it over, or even much past 10-15 degrees of bank.
Now here's where I need your input. Airliners are designed to be stable. In layman's terms they "want" to fly straight and level. In roll direct, I suspect that 8.4 degree bank angle would remain when exiting the turbulent air pocket - am I right in thinking that unless something has happened to the flight surfaces that angle will hold until corrected?
In any case, the deviation from straight-and-level on exiting the bump was a moderate roll with a minor nose-down pitch component. Of course the roll will need decisive correction - but I think (and please correct me if I'm wrong) that "decisive" can still be smooth and gentle in execution. The pitch component was barely half a point nose-down and should have corrected itself via trim.
The question is why the sudden aggressive pitch-up command when it wasn't necessary?
[ In case it wasn't clear, 30 seconds was a theoretical average - of course that'll be different depending on the circumstances, but I think most agree that the sidestick commands were well in excess of what was required, and to me hint at the classic signs of a startle response. ]