Rotary-wing and propeller instnbilities are reviewed wilh thmc objectives: 1) to increase insight into the sources of pi.op-rotor problems, 2) to catalogue a variety of instabilities to which proprotars arc srtbjcct and 3) to suggest several important sr~hjects for research in this goncrnl won. Thc first ohjectivo is approached by contrasting prop-rotor static ~e~.oelaet.ic pral~lems with those eneonntered vith firedsing aircraft; t,he second hy a selective litornture revien which gn,ups the dynamic phenomena of interest according to (he kind of diNel.entinl equalion which characterizes them; nnd the third attom11t.s to anticipate sources of difficulty either with new configurations or in flight 1.egime.s for which we presently have very limited experience.