A submerged air jet of round cross section, 0.12 m in diameter and with a long laminar region (up to 5 jet diameters) was obtained experimentally at the Reynolds number 5030. Using the linear stability analysis, two branches of growing perturbations were found, which are generated by three inflection points on the experimental jet profiles. Ranges of growing perturbation frequencies were obtained, as well as their growth rates, wavelengths and radial distributions of amplitudes. Experiments, in which controlled perturbations were introduced into the jet with a long laminar region, were conducted. Characteristics of waves, which are growing in experiments, are close to the predictions of the linear stability theory. Consequently, the linear stability theory applied to the submerged jet is validated experimentally.