Video of Airplane Defying Aeronautical logic, by Flying Upright in Place

Funny, Weird, & Educational Pictures or Videos ^ | 10/1/10 | Chuck Wolk

[OneVike]

Of all the great and amazing aerobatic tricks performed at the Chico Air Show I attended last weekend, there is probably none that I was more fascinated with then a stunt performed by a pilot who stood his plane on end in the air while holding it in place.  My only problem was I forgot to record it with my video camera.  I was so enthralled by the many performances that I also never interviewed any of the performers like I wanted to.  So I decided to return on Sunday morning and see if I could catch up with a few of the "White Collar Carnies ®" who's lives revolve around the Air Show circuit throughout America. 
  
One person I was able to interview was Bill Braack, owner and driver of the famous "Smoke-n-Thunder" jet car.  While I was waiting to talk to him I was pleasantly surprised to see pilot who stood his plane on end, practicing over near near the end of the runway. This time I was not going to forget to video tape it.  While the stunt did not last as long as it did when he performed it during the show, I was able to catch it on film.  I added it to music and that is what I offer you in the video below.
  
Now I will admit that I know very little about the full capabilities of airplanes, but when I saw the pilot do what he did with his airplane on Saturday, I was absolutely blown away.  I never would have thought it to be possible that an airplane could be made to do something I thought only helicopters could do. I do know about the V-22 Osprey which can fly like a helicopter or an airplane, but it was designed to do that. This is a small crop duster type of an airplane. 
  
I did do some research, but all I could find out was that maybe the pilot was doing something like reverse flying as he made his plane stand still in the air. I am sure that there are pilots who can tell me that this is quite normal, but this is a first for me. Even after I did a Google search, I couldn't find anything more than I already mentioned, nor could I find any videos that are similar to the one I am offering for you to watch. 
  
If there is anyone who could direct me to a site that I can read about this maneuver, or even see a similar video of an airplane of the same thing, then please give me the URL of them.

Follow the link below to watch the
Vidoe of Airplane Defying Aeronautical logic, by Flying Upright in Place

[Niteflyr]

Well when you can back up your statement with more than “take my word for it” let me know...;o)

[Chode]

outstanding...

[Tainan]

Many years ago, in a land far away, I witnessed several times a similar a/c maneuver. A very light plane, French made I think, would actually ‘hover’ on the side of a hill/mountain and allow cargo or a passenger to get out or be loaded in. Quite amazing. Pilot said it was a combination of a/c design, wind currents, gravity, feathering the controls and pure damn luck that allowed it to be done.

[DBrow]

“Yep...as a pilot and mechanic who is always going to airshows no one at present does this in a full size.”

I’ve seen this at airshows, with a full size real plane with pilot, and as I said above, I’ve seen this go into a climb then a hammerhead to get out of it.

[James C. Bennett]

There’s a term for this when an aircraft’s engine is powerful enough to provide the thrust necessary to lift the body of the aircraft without developing aerodynamic lift by way of the wing surfaces.

IIRC, the F-16’s engine is of the same class, with its output enough to get the aircraft vertically into the air sans wing-developed lift, if it could be arranged.

[ak267]

at the beginning, three is guy that is really close to the plane....hmmmmmm,,,holing a remote contral????, at an angle were we can’t see it????

[KC Burke]

Saw an aerobatic high power plane do that in ‘80 at the EAA Sun-n-Fun Fly-In in Lakeland Florida. It was crazy. Your pilot did it at a lower flight level.

[Niteflyr]

I’ve seen this at airshows, with a full size real plane with pilot,

I know what you are talking about and some of these full scale aerobatic airplanes have just about enough power to virtually hang on the prop like a giant scale R/C airplane..but for safety concerns NO ONE is doing this just above the ground like this video shows...which was more the point I was making... plus in this video you can see the pilot with transmitter in the foreground as someone pointed out....

[Ol' Dan Tucker]

It is not a model plane.

One way to positively determine whether this is a model or a full-size is to listen to the sound of the engine, but your video has replaced the sound of the engine with music.

How about re-doing it so we can hear the engine?

Was this pilot a part of the airshow? What was his name? Did you see him land? Did you see the pilot exit the cockpit?

I checked the web site for the 2010 Chico airshow and there wasn't a Yak-55 or Sukhoi-26/Sukhoi 30 listed as a performer.

I also checked their photo gallery. (See: 2010 Chico Airshow Photo Gallery)

You'd think that they would want to get photos of such an amazing feat of flying and yet, there is not a single photo.

A search of Google for any airplanes hovering at the Chico airshow turns up nothing.

Were you the only spectator in attendance when you shot the footage?

In short, I am not wrong. This was a model airplane.

If you still on insisting that this is a full-size, then post the raw, unedited video with the sound of the engine.

That will tell us once and for all whether this is a 40% model or a full-size airplane.

[Tucker39]

He just hung ‘er on the prop. With a light enough plane and a powerful enough engine it’s a piece of cake. As you can see in the video, he made it “waltz” around at ground level briefly, and when he was ready to fly off again he just gunned the engine and as soon as it was moving fast enough for the control surfaces to become effective he could level off, turn, whatever. I never could do aerobatics. Doing 360 degree turns at a 60 degree bank pretty near made me lose my breakfast!

[B4Ranch]

Aerotech Yak 54 Prop Hanging

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_yS0vDeXkw

[OneVike]

He did a similar maneuver during the show but not as low to the ground. This was the next morning while I was waiting to talk to the driver of the jet car. It was off to the end of the runway a ways off.

I will see is I can hear the engine in the original video. Even at that it was a couple of very short clips off my digital camera. So I had to splice what I had to get it to the length I wanted.

However, as I said I will check it out for the sound of the engine, but it was quite a way away actually. That is why I added the music, to distract away from people talking to the driver of the car.

[Ol' Dan Tucker]

at the beginning, three is guy that is really close to the plane....hmmmmmm,,,holing a remote contral????, at an angle were we can’t see it????

Exactly. You can see the pilot of the model clearly at the 20-25 second mark in the video.

This poster is trying to punk us into believing this is a full-size.

[Niteflyr]

You'd think that they would want to get photos of such an amazing feat of flying and yet, there is not a single photo. A search of Google for any airplanes hovering at the Chico airshow turns up nothing.

Exactly....and if full-size aerobatics at airshows has evolved to vertical hovers just above ground level alll us pilot types would read about it on the front page of the monthlies...

PS...one clever way to hide the drone of a big bore two stroke radio control airplane engine is to mask it with music in your video... and why would one want to drown out the strain of a full-size aircraft engine at high manifold pressure settings anyway? :o)

[JoenTX]

I could be wrong, but that appears to be one of the little Sukhoi 26/31 aerobatic units. They are quite capable and fascinating to watch little sport ships.

I’ve seen them before, though, I’ve never seen one perform that particular move.

Not sure if you’ve seen Sukhoi Su-27/35s performing the “Cobra” maneuver.......not quite the same as that in your video but very close to a large jet aircraft hanging motionless in the air. Too, the F-18 Super Hornet does a pretty darned good ultra-low speed vertical pose that’s an ear-splitting thrill to see.

[july4thfreedomfoundation]

I’ve seen pilots perform this maneuver at air shows in Southern California during the 1980’s and 1990’s.

Like you, I was impressed with the pilot’s abilities.....
and so was the crowd of 100,000 air show enthusiasts.

Real airplane, real pilot.....NOT a model.

[OneVike]

Yea, someone else gave me a similar link. I am going over the video I have closely to see if I am wrong.

The best thing I can go by is the sound of the engine like Ol’ Dan Tucker asked me to.

[DBrow]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fj6QLJn_o88

Short hang into a hammerhead. I’ve seen much longer hangs before the hammerhead stall, but can’t find one on Youtube.

[Ol' Dan Tucker]

He did a similar maneuver during the show but not as low to the ground. This was the next morning while I was waiting to talk to the driver of the jet car. It was off to the end of the runway a ways off.

Since you claim he was a performer, what was the pilot's name?

[DBrow]

No I’ve never seen it close to gl. Couple hundred, minimum, or you can’t kick out of it.