aerobatic C172?

I own a 1960 Cessna 172 with 2500 hours on the airframe. It is not
rated for aerobatic flight, but the positive and negative G loads that
it is approved for far exceed the normal G forces associated with a
well-executed barrel roll.

Has anyone heard of this maneuver being performed in a 1960 172?

On May 1, 9:52 pm, gt wrote:
I own a 1960 Cessna 172 with 2500 hours on the airframe. It is not
rated for aerobatic flight, but the positive and negative G loads that
it is approved for far exceed the normal G forces associated with a
well-executed barrel roll.

Has anyone heard of this maneuver being performed in a 1960 172?

Maybe once...

eg

Jay Beckman
PP-ASEL
Chandler, AZ

gt wrote:
I own a 1960 Cessna 172 with 2500 hours on the airframe. It is not
rated for aerobatic flight, but the positive and negative G loads that
it is approved for far exceed the normal G forces associated with a
well-executed barrel roll.

And what happens if you poorly execute one?

On May 2, 12:52 am, gt wrote:
I own a 1960 Cessna 172 with 2500 hours on the airframe. It is not
rated for aerobatic flight, but the positive and negative G loads that
it is approved for far exceed the normal G forces associated with a
well-executed barrel roll.

Has anyone heard of this maneuver being performed in a 1960 172?


Almost any aircraft can be rolled whether barrel or aileron. The main
concern is to have enough energy (speed) to complete the manuever
without falling out of the top of it. The next concern is to have the
training and experience to perform the maneuver. I have no doubt that
the 172 has been rolled many times by many thousands of pilots. I
know one pilot that told me he had rolled everything he flew including
the Shorts 360 and the 172. I know another pilot who fell out of the
top of a barrel roll in a Vampire jet fighter/trainer and almost
crashed. The first pilot had trained in Decathlons and Pitts the
second one hadn't.

John Dupre'

John wrote:
Almost any aircraft can be rolled whether barrel or aileron.

Well, any fixed-wing aircraft (including, I would guess, most gliders). I
suspect you're going to have a hard time rolling an airship or a hot air
baloon, however.

One of the coolest things I've seen is a helicopter do a roll (at Farnboro
airshow). That was amazing. I had always though helicopters were not
capable of doing anything like that.

"Roy Smith" wrote in message
...
John wrote:
Almost any aircraft can be rolled whether barrel or aileron.

Well, any fixed-wing aircraft (including, I would guess, most gliders). I
suspect you're going to have a hard time rolling an airship or a hot air
baloon, however.

One of the coolest things I've seen is a helicopter do a roll (at Farnboro
airshow). That was amazing. I had always though helicopters were not
capable of doing anything like that.

AH-64?

On 2007-05-01 21:52:46 -0700, gt said:

I own a 1960 Cessna 172 with 2500 hours on the airframe. It is not
rated for aerobatic flight, but the positive and negative G loads that
it is approved for far exceed the normal G forces associated with a
well-executed barrel roll.

Has anyone heard of this maneuver being performed in a 1960 172?

Of course. However, that does not mean it is legal or smart.

The 172 may be able to stand the G forces, but that is not the only
limitation. The carburetor only works when right side up, for example.
A barrel roll should not be a problem, executed properly, but if you
screw it up then you might have some trouble. The 172 is allowed to do
spins, but it can be hard on the instruments, knocking them back and
forth from stop to stop. For that reason some FBOs insist that spin
training be done in other airplanes.

I suspect, however, that the real reasons the 172 is not certified for
aerobatics is Cessna didn't want the liability, the 172 has a
not-very-much-fun roll rate, and sooner or later some pilot would be
bound to do them with passengers and no parachutes.

Finally, if you are the sort of person who goes out and abuses other
people's property and tries to conceal it, I suspect that most of us
would not want you renting our planes.
--
Waddling Eagle
World Famous Flight Instructor

In article ,
Roy Smith wrote:

One of the coolest things I've seen is a helicopter do a roll (at Farnboro
airshow). That was amazing. I had always though helicopters were not
capable of doing anything like that.

Rigid rotar system.
From aging memory...
Back in the 1960's, Lockheed built the Cheyenne prototypes, predecessor
of today's Apache. It had a rigid rotor system and could fly loops and
rolls. The program was cancelled in favor of the cheaper Huey Cobra.
The first commercially built helicopter with the rigid rotor system
approved for aerobatics is the BO-105, followed by the BK-117, now part
of Eurocopter.
Those helos have been performing at the big Eurpean airshows since the
1980's.

In article .com,
gt wrote:

I own a 1960 Cessna 172 with 2500 hours on the airframe. It is not
rated for aerobatic flight, but the positive and negative G loads that
it is approved for far exceed the normal G forces associated with a
well-executed barrel roll.
Has anyone heard of this maneuver being performed in a 1960 172?

Not enough "energy" to be performed in level flight.
It can be done in a dive by a competent aerobatic pilot, maintaining
airspeed and 1-G loading throughout the maneuver.

On May 2, 7:18 am, C J Campbell
wrote:
On 2007-05-01 21:52:46 -0700, gt said:
The 172 may be able to stand the G forces, but that is not the only
limitation. The carburetor only works when right side up, for example.
A barrel roll should not be a problem, executed properly, but if you
screw it up then you might have some trouble. The 172 is allowed to do
spins, but it can be hard on the instruments, knocking them back and
forth from stop to stop. For that reason some FBOs insist that spin
training be done in other airplanes.

The main reason most FBO's won't allow us to spin students is because
they invest a lot of money in gyros. I think in the "old guy days"
instrument rates were not as common and an FBO maybe had one plane for
instrument training. Today FBOs want all airplanes available for
instrument training (the IR is great money for FBOs, lots of dual and
lots of accessories to buy)

Finally, if you are the sort of person who goes out and abuses other
people's property and tries to conceal it, I suspect that most of us
would not want you renting our planes.

When gave instruction in the Decathlon the FBO broke off the "reset"
knob on the G meter so you can always see what the top and bottom G
load had been for the day on the plane.

-robert, CFII