Can passenger planes somersault in mid-air?

Experts say that 360-degree somersaults in mid-air by large passenger aircraft require pilots to have piloting skills .

Pilots have often performed flips with small airplanes throughout aviation history. Somersaults are maneuvers in which the aircraft rotates a full 360 degrees in mid-air. Performing somersaults is not easy, even for performance aircraft or fighter aircraft, requiring pilots to have handling skills. But can somersaults be performed with larger vehicles such as commercial airliners? Richard P. Anderson, a pilot, professor of aerospace engineering and director of the Eagle Flight Research Center at Embry-Riddle University in Florida, said it's entirely possible, according to Live Science .

In theory, experienced pilots can somersault a commercial airliner. (Photo: Denys Bilytskyi)

Perhaps the most famous pilot to ever somersault a commercial airplane was Alvin Melvin "Tex" Johnston , a Boeing test pilot. In the summer of 1955, Johnston took a four-engine Boeing 367-80 (also known as the Dash 80) in spins. To impress Boeing executives watching from a yacht on Lake Washington near Seattle, the pilot performed two somersaults along with one combined 180-degree turn and climb, according to Los Angeles. Times. That day, Johnston's boss called him into his office and asked him what he had done. Johnston replied: "Selling planes."

How did Johnston successfully handle a rollover with such a large aircraft? According to Anderson , the size of the aircraft is not as important as the pilot's ability to control the G-forces acting on the aircraft during the roll . "The physical impact is the same regardless of aircraft size ," Anderson explains. "During a roll, the pilot seeks to maintain the G-force on the aircraft close to 1 G. In other words, close to what we feel on the ground."

To complete the somersault, the pilot must simultaneously rotate the nose of the plane up and then down while flying at a cruising speed of about 885 - 965km. Anderson said the only real limitation when performing a roll is how fast the plane rotates. "In a rollover, what you do is angle the nose up, rotate, and leave the nose down. As long as the rotation speed is reasonable, physically, an airplane of any size can can be done , " Anderson said.

David Haglund, a veteran US Air Force pilot and professor at the Museum of Flight near Seattle, said sharing the airspace to complete a roll is also important, especially in the case of large versus small aircraft. like Cessna. "Before performing this maneuver, the pilot needs to consider the available airspace. In passenger aircraft, a rollover requires that there be no obstructions between 600 m above and 12,000 m below ," Haglund speak. Although physically possible, some manufacturers place limits on modern large aircraft to prevent any pilot from performing similar stunts, especially with passengers in the cabin.