Looping a C-130

[CAPFlyer]

Sorry to necro a post, but this document was just posted over on WiX by Randy Haskin -



This is the flight sequence from Farnborough, as you can see there was no loop performed. Again, the perspective from the cameras and the crowd made it look like one, but it wasn't.

[MarcE]

When you point your camera vertically into the sky an aircraft that flies around this focus will look like in a loop. on the first video at farnborough starting at 1:50 look at that first "loop" and don't focus on the plane but on the clouds, the camera draws a circle, not a loop. This ariplane isn't looping a that point.

the second [whatever it's called] at 3:30 should be an approx. 120degree bank, but no loop either.

[DHenriquesA2A]

Sorry to necro a post, but this document was just posted over on WiX by Randy Haskin -



This is the flight sequence from Farnborough, as you can see there was no loop performed. Again, the perspective from the cameras and the crowd made it look like one, but it wasn't.

He deviated from the official program.
What he actually did was pull it through the straight vertical line and on through inverted on that line. THEN he rolled off the line into a barrel rolled recovery avoiding the straight downward pull.
The key is to watch the wings as he does the maneuver. There is 0 bank initiated off the pure vertical line until he applies bank just past his high inverted energy gate, then the barreled recovery off the line.
(When it comes down to this show, there is a LOT of prestige and money involved . Companies will sometimes go off the books with their displays.

[n421nj]

You can put a pizza pie in front of some people and they will still tell you it’s a bowl of chicken soup.

[curtis72561]

Loop or Chandelle who cares? He still went inverted over the top in a C-130 (#4 & #7 in diagram) and that's impressive to me. But who am I, just a guy who loves aviation and the C-130.

[pjc747]

Sorry, I still don't think it's a loop. None of the "reputable" sources say it's a loop, and of all the views of what is claimed to be a "loop" there is no horizon reference visible. The "loop" at 2:08 looks like another Chandelle. The other video I've linked from further down the flightline, shows it as a chandelle. No one in the media, AIN, FlightGlobal, etc. have reported it as a loop. Looping something like a C-130 would be notable and would be reported on by the press. They haven't done it. None of the previous demonstrations have included a loop, not even in the C-130J demo that was so spectacular several years ago at this same event where Lockheed even released in-cockpit video of the practice flight (as linked above).

If it is a series of chandelles, they are some very poorly executed chandelles. If scored in a competition, it wasn't a terribly good loop, but it was a loop. You can hear the sound signature matches that of a loop. You can loop anything with the enough airspeed, you could view it as a turn with no bank angle. Not a terribly complex or complicated maneuver.

[DHenriquesA2A]

Sorry, I still don't think it's a loop. None of the "reputable" sources say it's a loop, and of all the views of what is claimed to be a "loop" there is no horizon reference visible. The "loop" at 2:08 looks like another Chandelle. The other video I've linked from further down the flightline, shows it as a chandelle. No one in the media, AIN, FlightGlobal, etc. have reported it as a loop. Looping something like a C-130 would be notable and would be reported on by the press. They haven't done it. None of the previous demonstrations have included a loop, not even in the C-130J demo that was so spectacular several years ago at this same event where Lockheed even released in-cockpit video of the practice flight (as linked above).

If it is a series of chandelles, they are some very poorly executed chandelles. If scored in a competition, it wasn't a terribly good loop, but it was a loop. You can hear the sound signature matches that of a loop. You can loop anything with the enough airspeed, you could view it as a turn with no bank angle. Not a terribly complex or complicated maneuver.

It is actually a hybrid maneuver; a deeply flown wingover through 3 dimensions; not quite a loop. Not quite a Barrel Roll.....kind of in the middle. I'm fairly certain they were favoring the scavenger pumps and other factors as well when they did this.
The only question I would have had on what they did was that a rolling recovery actually places more stress on the aircraft than a straight recovery, but I have to assume the crew knew exactly where they were on the g line at all times and that what they did was within their envelope.
Not bad for the big bird really............quite impressive; which was their purpose after all.
Dudley Henriques

[MarcE]

Dudley,
Your recent explanation makes sense, I see that now.

It‘s obviously hard to tell without any horizontal reference due the high zoom but what you say should be spot on...

[DHenriquesA2A]

Dudley,
Your recent explanation makes sense, I see that now.

It‘s obviously hard to tell without any horizontal reference due the high zoom but what you say should be spot on...

You are correct about the reference. The way we do it when grading a maneuver without reference to a horizon is to watch the wings. In coordinated flight to accomplish a heading change there must be a change in bank angle. That reference is made by focus completely on the aircraft itself.
Dudley Henriques