Warbird Information Exchange

I never expected to see one do this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ccd2JPF2Yes

Very cool. However almost any aircraft can be rolled in complete safety without overstressing anything. All you really need is enough airspeed and altitude.

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"I can't understand it, I cut it twice and it's still too short!" Robert F. Dupre' 1923-2010 Go With God.

This is true. The classic footage of Bob Hoover rolling the Shrike while pouring tea illustrates this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLFwJlPVYyY

Or the 707 at Sea Fair many years ago...

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real airplanes have round engines

True enough. Watched a Vulcan crew roll their bird one day at Willow grove. Beautiful too. Only took half the sky to do it

The trick with rolling these big birds as you say is about controlling the g and the arc of the roll. Aileron rolls started even with the nose high lose too much to dish out on the back side that can cause too much airspeed buildup resulting in a rolling pullout which is the last thing you want to do with these airplanes. (G rise in a rolling pullout)

What you see almost consistently with these large birds when rolled are barrel rolls . There's usually a problem with the scavenger pumps as well so keeping some g on the aircraft to insure oil pressure and proper flow is critical for the engines.
This guy did a nice roll. He took it up and wide and flew it on around with a positive but in limits g profile. Low stress and oil flow gets a few Attaboys from the gallery for sure
Dudley Henriques

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Dudley Henriques
International Fighter Pilots Fellowship

Roll, loop, knife edge, the C-27J can do all that. I have watched this aerobatics a few weeks ago during the Airpower 09 Airshow in Austria. See example :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pu7dR0gia6s

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Warbird Videos:
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=34289

Holy cow! That's amazing! I didn't realize that C-27 was fully aerobatic like that! The Vne speed on that aircraft must be pretty high in order to do "over-the-top" maneuvers like the loop that it did. Anyone notice during the knife-edge pass when the bottom wing starting streaming fuel from the fuel vent?

An absolutely amazing display, what a tough little bird that C-27 is!

I would be interested in knowing the relation of the crowd line to theC-27 Spartan performance - the first minute or so it seems that as the plane pulls up and turns hard right that he/she is headed right back into the crowd area - probably not but without knowing more it certainly seems like that. Interested to know. what an incredible demo!

Tom P.

I was an air traffic controller in Gander Tower in the early 1970s and German Transalls would come across the pond at 20+ thousand and do jet penetrations into the airport. Not your normal transport approach.

If the demo was over here, there are 3 categories that define distance of the show line from the crowd. This guy would probably be a Cat 2 demo based on a cruise speed range between 156 and 245 knots.
Over there it's a crap shoot for regs. Not sure at all what's in play today.

Actually, based on the film, I make his demo extremely smooth and tight in for the type. He flew it well within his parameters as far as I could tell.
Probably an Italian crew but just a wild guess.
Dudley Henriques

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Dudley Henriques
International Fighter Pilots Fellowship

I'd like to see someone bring this performance back...

Ford Tri Motor Aerobatics!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6dWtDk_rOI

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-Al Sauer
http://www.flickr.com/photos/spookythecat

Wow, that's absolutely insanely crazy! I can just see one of those wings folding like a lawn chair.

My aerobatics are limited to T-37/T-38, Citabria, and RV-8. My airshow experience is limited to flying the AMC approved (yawn) profile in the C-130.

That said, I agree with Dudley. Well flown profile! I would venture that nearly any non-swept, fat wing (traditional camber) airplane could fly the C-27 profile given a proficient pilot as seen in the video. Proximity to the crowd is likely not a factor; the zoom lens amplifies the illusion of danger.

The wing and structure only knows total G, G onset, asymmetrical twisting forces, etc. It doesn't matter whether this force is applied to an airplane that is upside down or in level flight -- or if the force is applied by the pilot or some outside source such as turbulence. The breaking point is unchanged.

The Trimotor loop is a great example - I doubt the speed was very high and, as a result, the G required was low as well. The wing structure couldn't care less if it's seeing 2.5G in a pull-up or at the bottom of a loop. Actually, a well-executed, vanilla loop is all smooth, symmetrical G.

The C-160 penetration descent is another example. Power idle and lower the nose to a pitch which yields the target airspeed. (I believe the Transall has spoilers/speedbrakes to assist in allowing a steeper descent). For example, 8 degrees below the level flight pitch gives a loss of around 800'/nautical mile and the rate of descent is directly related to groundspeed. That is, an airplane at 60 knots will always have roughly one-quarter the rate of descent (~ 800 VSI) of an airplane flying the exact same descent profile at 240 knots (~ 3200 VSI) simply due to the speed at which they cover the same ground in the same wind. They both perform the same maneuver but the faster airplane is more impressive because he achieves the VSI of a piano? Myth.

It's knowing the limits and how to gently remain within them that's key - as mentioned above, a skill in which Bob Hoover is expert.

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"Take care of the little things and the big things will take care of themselves."

I didn't realize it when I posted the vid, but I guess the US is buying a couple hundred of those to use as Army transports. Maybe we will see that demo stateside one day.

I NEVER thought I'd see anything like that! Didnt anyone tell the pilot a Tri-motor isnt supposed to do that?

I've gone for a ride in the EAA's tri-motor and was greatly mislead as to its capabilities! I just remember watching traffic on the highway below passing us.

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