Has anyone here ever rolled an airplane???

[Slippery Mick]

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

I did, but they thought I was too "reckless."

 

[MD11Drvr]

I have heard of these things called rolls and I agree with the advice to get some aerobatic instruction and do these things in aerobatic airplanes.

I have flown a few airplanes that you could see the wrinkle in the wing from the over stress of a split S. Namely an old tired Chieftan that was used for cargo. Every time I took that airplane into weather I could not help but wonder about the stress that had been put on it.

 

[pilotyip]

Rolling an airplane proves nothing, if done properly it does not put any undue stress on the airplane, look at the famous 707 initial fly by tapes. However, as stated above if you do not have proper training you can easily kill your self. A short story I am in my solo stage training in the T-34, I have a total of 20 hours flight time, I have been trained in loops, precision spins, Immelmanns (sp.?), and barrel rolls, but no aileron rolls. I elect to do an aileron roll, because I am such a hot Navy pilot. I push the stick over to the left and the T-34 starts rolling, the nose falls through and I am screaming toward the ground at over 6,000'/min, VSI was pegged. Being low time and inexperienced, I pull back on the stick, the Gs' start building, my vision goes from color to black and white, to pin holes to black out. I can hear the scream of the air going by, but I can not see. I am pulling close to 6G's without a G-suit. I remembered from Aviation Physiology class that if you reduce the G's your vision will come back, so I ease the stick pressure off and I can see again, I finally level off at about 1,500' I started at 5,000' Thanks goodness. I never told anyone about this for probably 15 years. My big worry was one of the VT-1 traffic cops might have seen me do an unauthorzed maneuver and I could be in big trouble. When I landed, the plane Capt. meet the airplane and ask about squawks, I had none, he then looked at the G-meter it read 5.75 G’s, close to the 6 G limit, he asked what happened. I said I pulled out of a spin too quickly. He said no big deal, cut the safety wire, reset the G-Meter and walked away. I have never done another aileron roll in my life.

 

[FlyingFisherman]

(Rolls)
Favorite airplane: Extra 200
Least Favorite: AT-6
Biggest Letdown: Focke Wulf P-149D. In both I flew you needed pushing 30º nose up to start and you'd wind up nose down with just an aileron roll. Roll rate was pretty good all things considered but it just didn't like to aileron roll and was a disappointment for an aerobatic capable airplane. At least they're built like tanks and are still fun to fly

 

[FN FAL]

Go ahead and roll 'em, whether you kill yourself or someone else, I'll still be here reading the funny papers. Muhahahahaha...:nuts:

 

[91100 100 set]

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.

I don't want to start a pissing match, but I must beg to differ. Maybe I wasn't doing it right, but I do seem to remember hanging from the harness at some points during my aileron and slow rolls. I think the barrel roll was intended to be a positive G (not 1 G) maneuver, but I couldn't seem to get the hang of that particular one without ending up in some kind of weird nose-low attitude. If the goal is to roll 360 degrees about the long axis with the nose not moving more than a few degrees up or down, I just don't see how it can be a positive G maneuver, let alone a 1 G maneuver without excessive pitching at the same time (which is contrary to what I understand a simple aileron roll to be). But I'd love to discuss and be schooled a little.

I do agree 100% with all the rest though.

 

[Lostdog65]

My first unusual attitude was a split S...yes my instructor at Spartan liked to roll the 152's...and the Duchess.

The 402 rolls nicely if done properly. Most aircraft can be rolled but like someone said, make sure it's the proper category and you know what in the hades you're doing.

That is all...

Eric

 

[navigator72]

I have rolled a few planes:
Cessna 150 Aerobat (aerobatic lessons)
Cessna 150
Cessna 177 Cardinal
T-6 Texan

If you do a simple roll the right way, it does not out any excess stress on the aircraft.
Find an aerobatic instructor and take a few lessons or you may end up dead!!!!!

 

[NoPax]

I don't want to start a pissing match, but I must beg to differ. Maybe I wasn't doing it right, but I do seem to remember hanging from the harness at some points during my aileron and slow rolls. I think the barrel roll was intended to be a positive G (not 1 G) maneuver, but I couldn't seem to get the hang of that particular one without ending up in some kind of weird nose-low attitude. If the goal is to roll 360 degrees about the long axis with the nose not moving more than a few degrees up or down, I just don't see how it can be a positive G maneuver, let alone a 1 G maneuver without excessive pitching at the same time (which is contrary to what I understand a simple aileron roll to be). But I'd love to discuss and be schooled a little.

I do agree 100% with all the rest though

You'll hang from the harnesses on a slow roll, but not an aileron roll.

THE FOLLOWING IS NOT AEROBATIC INSTRUCTION - BUT PERSPECTIVE FROM AN AEROBATIC PILOT!

From the pilot's perspective during the slow roll - you pick a reference point on the horizon, and roll the airplane, about the longitudinal axis, on that point. It is a difficult and complex maneuver to master, and with a stick, follows a 'stir the chile bowl' pattern - ie move the stick to the right, then curve it around to top, and back in the same manner. The use of rudder is complicated! It's difficult because it is easy to get hung up half way through the maneuver, and with a loss of airspeed it can lead to stall, or generally falling out of the maneuver.

From the pilot's perspective during an aileron roll - you'll pitch the airplane up (depending on the airplane) to at least a 15º nose up attitude, then roll about a reference point, using aileron and rudder in the direction of the roll. When inverted, the airplane is about a level (0º attitude), and when upright again, the airplane should be pitching down the same angle you started the maneuver, pitching up...in this example - 15º nose down. Level the wings, and pull up to level flight. Hence the term - ballistic profile.

The airplane's nose, again from the perspective of the pilot, should track a letter C with the reference point (and horizon) slicing the middle of the letter, and the ends are met by pitching up at the beginning of the maneuver from level, and pitching up at the end of the maneuver back to the horizon.

If you start the aileron roll from level attitude and just roll it - well read pilotyip's post!

Have fun guys, and get some aerobatic instruction.

BTW...a 400 series Cessna is not a good airplane to roll in any sense of the word...any idea why Bob Hoover liked the Aero Commander so much????

 

[NW_Pilot]

Anyone know of any rental aerobat 150's in oregon or washington?