WHAT WENT WRONG
BETTER PILOT I
Don’t Try This at Home
BY J. MAC MCCLELLAN
Aerobatic attempt in unapproved airplane leads to disaster
ANYBODY WHO HAS BEEN TO AN AIR SHOW knows that in the hands
of an expert pilot almost any kind of airplane can fly certain aerobatic maneuvers. Bob Hoover’s ultra-smooth technique flew
the Aero Commander piston twin through a graceful routine
including loops and rolls, even though the airplane was never
designed for such maneuvers. More recently Matt Younkin has
been flying an impressive show routine in a classic Beech 18
cabin-class piston twin.
Perhaps the most famous aerobatic maneuver by a non-aerobatic airplane—and heart-stopping for Boeing
executives—occurred when test pilot Tex Johnston flew two
barrel rolls in the 367-80, the prototype of the Boeing 707, in
front of a crowd of airline executives that Boeing hoped would
buy the jetliner.
Johnston famously said that the roll put no undue stress
on the big jet transport, and he was correct. But if he had made
the smallest error in technique, the results could have been
very different.
Actually, the concept of certifying airplanes for aerobatics—
or acrobatics as it used to be called—didn’t evolve until after
the end of World War II. Typically airplanes certified and
built in the “classic” period simply didn’t address aerobatics at
all in the limitations, or if the topic was included, it was usually
to prohibit specific maneuvers such as a “whip stall.” Airplanes
were designed and approved with specific airframe load and airspeed limits, but it was up to the pilot to remain within those
structural strength boundaries.
But as airplane design and performance evolved it became
clear that most airplanes designed for normal transportation
flying lacked the characteristics to be routinely and safely
flown through aerobatic maneuvers.
A low-drag airplane that is desirable
for cruise can easily build to extreme
airspeeds if a pilot botches an aerobatic
maneuver, and the airplane can quickly
accelerate beyond its design structural
limits. That’s why the aerobatic certifi-
cation category was developed and most
normal category airplanes were prohib-
ited from intentionally flying beyond
normal attitudes.
Nobody actually saw the
Baron attempt a roll,
or any other aerobatic
maneuver, but a witness
heard it.
Among the airplanes none of us would
expect to find in the aerobatic category is
the Beech Baron 58. The Baron is a fast
and capable piston twin, and its structural design load limits are actually a
little higher than the normal category
standard. Could a Baron fly through a
basic aerobatic maneuver such as a roll?
