Has anyone here ever rolled an airplane???

[Thedude]

Allegedly, I heard about a guy that said I might have rolled a few but he wasnt really sure.

 

[con-pilot]

I have never rolled a Sabre 40 or 60 or 80 or a 65. Or a jet Commander, or Westwind. I never rolled a Falcon 50.

But I can assure you that I never rolled a 727 or a DC-3, trust me on that!

(Talked about rolling the 72, but none of us had enough guts, you never can tell if you can trust the FE.)

 

[81Horse]

Tex Johnston, August, 1955.

http://www.dauntless-soft.com/PRODUCTS/Freebies/Approaches/707_barrel_roll.jpg

 

[HAL]

A word of caution - if you haven't had at least some rudimentary aerobatics lessons, Don't do it!!

Remember the worn out joke about a pilots last words being "hey, watch this"? It came from those guys who thought they could just crank the ailerons around and have the plane do a roll. Just like the guy who augered into the dirt with the 152 I had just gotten my private in. He was a student pilot on a solo X/C who picked up his girlfriend at one of the stops and tried to show-off. It didn't work.

Just as if you wouldn't try to get in a plane and takeoff solo without some lessons, don't try going upside down without learning how to do it first. After that, welcome to the wonderful, thrilling world of aerobatics!

HAL

 

[NoPax]

I strongly suggest you don't do it.

If you want to roll something, learn how to do it correctly, and invest sometime getting instructed by an aerobatics instructor. I highly recommend a good aerobatics instructor for all professional pilots, or professional wannabes.

A Barrel Roll is a positive G maneuver - and is the only maneuver where a simultaneous roll and pull is acceptable. It is rolling and pulling simultaneously that can lead to overstressing the airplane - torquing the wings...the load you feel in the center of the airplane is greatly increased at the wingtip, therefore overstressing it.

An Aileron Roll, is a positive G maneuver - pull, neutral, roll+rudder, neutral - it follows a ballistic profile.

A Slow Roll, involves negative Gs, and you'll overstress a normal category if you try it - stir the chile - roll about the longitudinal axis.

A Snap Roll should never be attempted in anything other than an aerobatic airplane, you will break something if you do it in normal category - or the next guy to fly the airplane - a spin in the direction of flight, entered into from an accelerated stall.

I've only ever rolled, looped, hammerheaded, spun or any combination of those, in an aerobatic category airplane. Once you know the forces involved you know not to do it in any other category airplane.

BTW - I'm flying almost the same type airplane that Bob Hoover used for his aerobatic display. The few mods he made included an extra hydraulic accumulator, and pump.

 

[typhoonpilot]

Done properly an aileron roll is a one G manuever. The dangers of doing it in aircraft that are not certified for it are that, if you mess it up, you can pull substantially more than one G in the recovery and overstress the aircraft. Do not roll an airplane if you haven't had a good course in aerobatics in properly certified aerobatic aircraft.

Every pilot should know how to recover from a spin and to recover an aircraft from an inverted position without overstressing it.


Typhoonpilot

P.S. I'll tell you what I've rolled when I retire.

 

[FL420]

Let me add my recommendation to get some aerobatic training before scratching that itch. Everyone I know who tried it on a whim without prior experience ended up Split-S'ing out of it. When you're unexpectedly pointed straight at the ground is no time to start thinking about how many G's you can safely pull, how many G's you need to pull, how much over redline you can safely go or how much altitude you are going to need to recover.

 

[NoPax]

During the aerobatic training I took (to become an instructor at the school), the Split-S was one of the last maneuvers mastered - if unprepared, you'll eat up a lot of altitude, probably pull the most Gs if the entry speed is not correct, (and be crooked in the pull and overstress the wings), get close to if not exceed redline airspeed and prop RPM, or snap out of the maneuver leaving you spinning inverted if you entered too slow.

That and the "immel-spin" were two maneuvers hard to get right.

The split-s was also not a solo maneuver - dual only no solo practice.

 

[Slippery Mick]

Yes, I rolled a 172 over the Arizona desert at night. It rolled smooth, with no engine sputter. Dumbest thing I ever did.

 

[NW_Pilot]

Ohhh Boy, you should have went to airman flight school!