Passenger plane Barrol roll

You say the south of England... where exactly, I've seen a few planes I found a bit odd flying overhead in Essex.

About 2 miles from Southampton. Theres an airport nearby and I think the closest RAF base is Pourtsmouth.

While in my aviation class, my teacher(who one flew for many airlines) showed us a video of the prototype 707 doing a barrel role, that was the first time I have ever seen an airliner perform such a manuever, despite being suprised, my teacher told us that any airplane can perform a barrel role, and that seeing an airliner perform a barrel role shouldn't be a suprise to anyone, if an aircraft is aerodynamically sound, then it can perform a barrel role, as simple as that.

So hearing this account, I believe that Zanzibar saw the airliner do a barrel role, I'm just not surprised by the account.

Shattered OUT...

How many engines did the plane have, 2 or 4 ? Were their any airline markings you could identify at all ?

I am sure most commercial airliners can do it in an emergency. However, it would have to be an empty plane since barrel rolling is not good for freight or passengers. Those types of planes are not certified to be aerobatic planes, and the pilot would have some explaining to do. If the company that he worked for did not pull his ticket, ATC would have, and there would most likely be damage to the airframe. I am thinking that he saw a plane doing S-turns to loose altitude and it was an optical illusion. I have seen it before myself.

[edit on 12/11/2005 by defcon5]

You can watch the video of the the 707 barrel roll HERE (Right-click and save)

Here's an image taken from the plane during the maneuver.

Just a quick question guys... do many commercial airliners tend to have lighting along the whole underside of the fueselage?

None, they normally only have a rotating beacon light which is lit once the engines fire up. Mainly this is to warn the ramp when they need to be cautious of being ingested in the engine. The main exception I can think of though is that DC-9’s and MD-80’s wing lights face downward until they are swept forward before landing.

Well what plane lights up at the front, then the whole underside, then just the back. A plane did this flying overhead when I was walking thought the other day. It wasn't particularly foggy of dark.

Sounds like a tanker. They have director lights under the belly, between the whell wells to tell the receiver where to go to hook up to the boom in radio out refuelings.

A barrel roll is a fairly easy aerobatic manuever to make and is not dangerous in the slightest since a 1G loading is maintained inside & outside the airplane at all times. I've done one in a Cherokee 140 and in a Cessna 150.

The plane had 4 engines and no markings except something written on the side. The name of the airline probably.

I think the term "barrel roll" is starting to become confused with an 'aileron roll." The 707 did an 'aileron roll', while a barrel roll is something you'd see in a Blue Angels demo. During a barrel roll, the plane in question keeps traveling straight and simply rotates about its own axis, it doesn't pitch or yaw in the process. It also stays level in altitude.

However, an 'aileron roll' is different....during one of these, a pilot has to either rise/dip the wing in order to roll the plane over. The plane pitches and yaws down and to either the right or left, and the resultant lift forces 'throws' (for lack of a better word) the wing over. These types of rolls are frequently done in small, private aircraft and are not hard to do.

I don't think it's possible for a 707 to not pitch/yaw while rolling, so i think it was more of an 'aileron roll'. A true barrel roll can only be done in high performance aircraft, like an EXTRA 300 or any military fighter.

I'm almost positive that these are two different terms......can anyone let me know for sure?

[edit on 13-12-2005 by BlackThorn311]

Isn't it sort of the other way round?

I always thought that a barrel roll is one where the aircraft moves in a circle, as seen from head on, as it executes the roll,(as if traversing the inside of a barrel - hence the name) whereas a simple roll, or aileron roll, is one where, from head on, the fuselage maintains its position but the whole aircraft rotates 360 degrees?

It definatley stayed at the same altitude, thats the point I was trying to get across, it just looked so weird and unnatural. It spun on its axis.

Originally posted by waynos
Isn't it sort of the other way round?

I always thought that a barrel roll is one where the aircraft moves in a circle, as seen from head on, as it executes the roll,(as if traversing the inside of a barrel - hence the name) whereas a simple roll, or aileron roll, is one where, from head on, the fuselage maintains its position but the whole aircraft rotates 360 degrees?

You're right, it is the other way around.

Shattered OUT...

Originally posted by BlackThorn311
I'm almost positive that these are two different terms......can anyone let me know for sure?

www.swairfest.org...

So I tend to agree with Waynos.

Aileron roll = a rotation along the Z axis (nose to tail) of the aircraft, no change of altitude.

Barrel roll = is a rotation around an imaginary axis, with a distinct change of altitude.

Point roll = same as an aileron roll with distinct positional stops during the rotation.

Sooooooooooooo, is an airelon roll feasable for an airliner? I got confused!

Isn't it sort of the other way round?

Yeah, it is....that's my fault. It's been awhile since my aerodynamics classes. Just a dumb mistake on my part. Sorry guys!

Originally posted by Zanzibar
The plane had 4 engines and no markings except something written on the side. The name of the airline probably.

Okay so we have a few possibilites (From the comercial side)

707
DC-8
747
A340
A380