Has anyone here ever rolled an airplane???

[Lear Wanna Be]

A C-310R doesn't roll nicely. THEY don't ROLL NICELY.

I beg to differ on this! Right JT? I mean, no it doesn't roll very nicely. I mean, no it doesn't roll at all. In fact, more than 35 degrees of bank and it falls out of the sky. LMAO

I happen to know a guy (I really do and it is not me) that had 4 C-310Rs that they used for check hauling. On occasion he would talk about how he and another pilot would go out and dogfight in them. Said they had some interesting experiences doing that. He also mentioned how quiet it gets when you loop one and feather both engines at the top. This guy was pretty crazy. Well I never knew if I really believed his fishing stories or not. Then one day I see one of their birds layed-up in the hangar with the wing all torn apart. Guess they found several cracks in the spar, spent $60K and several months getting the thing repaired. The FAA had to do a field approval and were asking a lot of questions about how this kind of thing could have happened. Well they ended up not having enough airplanes to cover their runs for all these months and had to use other operators. By the time they were up and running with all 4, they were so far in the hole that they had to sell out. Sure doesn't seem worth it, now does it? Oh, this is the same guy that I found out never took a 135 check and had also been busted when they purchased an MU-2 (never added) and were doing an illegal trip for FedEx.

 

[DrewBlows]

If you feel the need to roll a normal category airplane please don't do it in a rental plane or company plane that others will fly. If you want to bend your own airplane, that's between you and your maker (and the FAA). Nothing makes me cringe more than when someone boasts about rolling an airplane that I fly. Feel free to kill yourself, but leave me out of it.

That said, a little aerobatic training can be very beneficial for your skills and confidence. Aerobatics are fun, just do it in an airplane approved to do so. There are a lot of instructors out there with Decatholons, Citabrias, and Extras who are more than willing to help you out.

 

[Spooky 2]

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.)

Back in the every early 70's there was a CAL Capt that rolled one of their B727's on more than one occasion during ferry flights, with the FA's onboard. Well as you can imagine the word finally leaked out at a party one night down in Mahattan Beach. Also attending party was a local FAA inspector and the rest was as they say "history." The guy tried to defend himself by saying that CAL supervisory pilots rolled their Sabre 60 routinely and since it was certified the same as the Boeing, there was nothing wrong with this type of activity. Back in those days CAL used the Sabre as a pre-employment evaluation airplane so yes there probaly was a lot stuff going on that was above an beyond the normal. Coincidently CAL lost this Sabreliner in an accident, killing both pilots but no pax after dropping off the then COB, Bob Six in Longmont, CO. One of the reversers deployed during takeoff and they lost control of the airplane, but that's another story.

So the guy that rolls the airplane gets fired. Both the F/O and S/O got some serious time off for not reporting the aberent behavior. I had met the S/O once and recall him telling the story of one of the rolls. At night no less, the guy rolls the airplane and the S/O is looking back in the dimly lit cabin as all the F/A's are sleeping. Not one of the woke up! This guy was stupd, but he must of had great hands. Don't know what ever happend to the Capt but I'll bet money that he went on to another flying job after the FAA reinstated his certificates.

From what I understand the best way to roll the 727 was to pop about 1/3 to 1/2 spoilers, get it going slightly down hill at about 280 kts and smoothly roll while leveling out. Works for me. Try it in the sim sometime. Slicker'n snot.

 

[erj-145mech]

Thats a load of bull. I happen to know that a 310R rolls better than an AT-6. That 600 lbs of gas in the wingtips wants to go around. There's nothing wrong with the maneuver as long as you don't exceed the G loading, and I can routinely roll without exceeding 1.75G. I'll lose some altitude to keep the speed up, but its not much, but then this isn't competition.

 

[FlyingFisherman]

Never worked for a check hauling business. C-310 was owned by a world class aerobatic pilot who allowed me to experience first hand a scene from Cloud Dancer in his Pitts.

"Well you're flyin' one now!"

Later that night I watched the movie for the first time.

 

[garf12]

We just had a member terminated from our flyng club for rolling an arrow. Idiot didnt tell anyone but the fact that the battery had come out of the casing and threw acid all over the fire wall was a little clue. Few other things gave it away.

 

[icefr8dawg]

Thats a load of bull. I happen to know that a 310R rolls better than an AT-6. That 600 lbs of gas in the wingtips wants to go around. There's nothing wrong with the maneuver as long as you don't exceed the G loading, and I can routinely roll without exceeding 1.75G. I'll lose some altitude to keep the speed up, but its not much, but then this isn't competition.

Agree, except the twisting moments tend to work the outboard flush rivets harder than normal. Nothing some cherry's and PRC won't fix tho

 

[FL420]

We just had a member terminated from our flyng club for rolling an arrow. Idiot didnt tell anyone but the fact that the battery had come out of the casing and threw acid all over the fire wall was a little clue. Few other things gave it away.

Good point about the battery. Damage to engines with wet sump oil systems is another possibility. Another is possible damage to conventional gyros when they hit the stops.

If you do aerobatics in someone elses airplane that is not designed and certificated for aerobatics, you are abusing the aircraft and the trust of the owner and subsequent pilots who fly that aircraft.