Lockeed Martin LM-100J stunt pilot

[Fengist]

Essentially, the plane is a C130 Hercules.  But whatever it is, I hereby nominate the pilot, Wayne Roberts, a Lockeed Martin test pilot, to be named an honorary Kerbal.  Normal humans in giant cargo planes just don't do this. It takes someone with the heart (and possibly brains) of a Kerbal.

Full news story here: https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/lockheed-martin-lm-100j-stunts/index.html

 

Edited August 3, 2018 by Fengist

[p1t1o]

Never underestimate the excess power available to an unladen cargo plane/airliner! 

Spoiler

Or Heavy Bombers for that matter

 

Gotta say though, what kind of sociopath refers to this as anything other than a Hercules?

[XB-70A]

Poor wings... you bunch of savage!

Seriously, it has already been seen with the Transall C-160, or Alenia and their G.222, then with its offspring the C-27J. Many things are possible once the payload is absent and just enough fuel is carried.

 

Less acrobatic and stressful for the structure, but still awesome to see "Tex" Johnson and his crew made a barrel in 55 with the Boeing 367-80 (by the way, the uploader is another one who think the 376-80, which became the C-135, was the 707... two different airplanes, with different size and materials)

 

 

Test crews also barrel rolled Concorde during her tests, but no footage were ever made (or shared), alas.

[Nuke]

a lot of these are positive g manuvers. the only thing that really prevents planes from doing crazy manuvers is negative gs playing havok with the fuel system.  well theres that and wing loading. but an unloaded cargo/passenger plane has a lot of surplus structural integrity to work with.

Edited August 3, 2018 by Nuke

[Fengist]

2 hours ago, Nuke said:

a lot of these are positive g manuvers. the only thing that really prevents planes from doing crazy manuvers is negative gs playing havok with the fuel system.  well theres that and wing loading. but an unloaded cargo/passenger plane has a lot of surplus structural integrity to work with.

I refer to a quote a gentleman once told me: "Given enough thrust, anything can be made to fly."  He was an ejection-seat rep for Northrup-Grumman.

And while his statement is completely true, so I what I noted.  That pilot is at least half Kerbal.  While there may have been plenty of thrust to perform the maneuver, or any of the others shown above, it still takes a touch of insanity to actually do it.

[Gargamel]

11 hours ago, XB-70A said:

Less acrobatic and stressful for the structure, but still awesome to see "Tex" Johnson and his crew made a barrel in 55 with the Boeing 367-80 (by the way, the uploader is another one who think the 376-80, which became the C-135, was the 707... two different airplanes, with different size and materials)

Hmm... I had always seen it as a 707 doing the barrel roll.   But I will defer to you in that the differences resulted in two different planes. 

[XB-70A]

15 minutes ago, Gargamel said:

Hmm... I had always seen it as a 707 doing the barrel roll.   But I will defer to you in that the differences resulted in two different planes. 

Indeed, many people think they were the same. The differences between the two aircraft being tiny about the appearance, but pretty significant on the structure itself. Reinforced landing gear on the 707-100, fuselage slightly larger (just a few cm more diameter), and especially a new metal alloy much stronger and less sensitive to corrosion than the one of the C-135. I have forgotten since the hour limit of the 707's cell, but it was given as more important than its cousin.

Edited August 4, 2018 by XB-70A

[Stone Blue]

I wont bore people with the back story, but I will NEVER forget the day I was priviledged enuff to watch an empty C-5 do a short takeoff on a very small runway made for small fighters. (9000' x 150') It lifted off between 1500~2000ft, then at about 4000ft, and maybe 300-400ft altitude, it did a 180° wingtip turn, right above us... we were literally in the center of the turn, looking straight up along the wings... One of the most amazing things I have ever seen an aircraft do, in person... (and being a former air winger, I've seen a bit)  

[Gargamel]

1 hour ago, Stone Blue said:

C-5 do a short takeoff

I was leaving for spring break in '97, riding a greyhound bus.  One of the Eastern European (Bosnia perhaps?) conflicts was gathering speed at the time.  We were rolling down I-87 through Syracuse NY, and I believe a portion of the 10th Mountain out of Fort Drum was deploying in C-5's from Syracuse.    The runway ends quite close to the Highway, and the C-5 was so low as it passed over us, we could feel the bus shake from it, even while moving.    Yes, they are impressive birds.    It wasn't a short takeoff by any means, and I'm guessing was quite heavily loaded, hence the low take off. 

 

[razark]

2 hours ago, Stone Blue said:

an empty C-5 do a short takeoff

 

1 hour ago, Gargamel said:

the C-5 was so low as it passed over us, we could feel the bus shake from it

Sounds like some impressive sights.

I've never had that experience, but during the aftermath of Hurricanes Ike and Harvey I was at the same location, which happens to line up pretty closely with one of the runway approaches to Ellington Field.  I was able to sit and watch a string of C-130s and C-17s coming in for a few days.