Aviation Explorer
4 HN mentions · mentioned in 4 months, 2012–2023
4:31 · 3.2M views · Nov 3, 2011
Archival footage of Boeing test pilot Tex Johnston barrel-rolling the 707 prototype, the Dash-80, over Lake Washington in 1955 during a demonstration.
Cited as proof that a large jet airliner can safely do a barrel roll and as a famous test-pilot stunt.
4 comments from Hacker News
there's film of Tex Johnston's Dash-80 barrel roll this video many years later, Boeing Chief Test Pilot John Cashman stated that just before he piloted the maiden flight of the Boeing 777 on Jun. 12, 1994, his last instructions from then Boeing President Phil Condit were “No rolls”. -- anecdote from [LINK] I wonder why "the suits" at Boeing are so against the barrel rolls? The pilots all agree it's not that big a deal, not dangerous, and anybody watching is going to love it. this article [LINK] says that the bigger the plane, the more dangerous because it will roll more slowly, and during parts of the roll particularly 90 degrees off "flat" there is no lift and you're going to be falling. I'm reminded of the tragic crash of a B-52 illustrating a similar circumstance, and this was the pilot's last flight before retiring [LINK]
Barrel rolls are low G maneuvers so properly executed they shouldn't cause any of those things. My memory had the barrel roll as a 1G maneuver but wikipedia tells me it gets up to 2-3g (probably to enter/exit the maneuver). Were you thinking of an aileron roll? I mean, if a 707 could do it safely in 1955[1] modern airliners should do just fine. (not that I support routine barrel rolls on airliners...) [1] this video
this video See around 1:56. No significant heading or pitch changes that I can see, although it is difficult to tell because the camera is so far away.
> Who else can ever say they did a freaking barrel roll in a commercial airliner. Tex Johnston for one: this video