Really interesting stuff. I'd be curious to know if any commercial airline pilots have ever performed one of those 360^o rolls that the author writes about.

I have never heard "delusive" before. Yay, new word! Though I still like delusory better.

Atom Eyes

This is cool. A lot of people don't realize turning on a motorcycle works the same way. There was a great photo on killboy's site a few years back that showed a bike with a bottle of gatorade balanced in a divot on the tank, with the bike in a heavy lean. The comments were like, "Whoa!" until killboy explained it was a planned shot with a friend, and that they were taking full advantage of the fact that motorcycles (like planes) turn without lateral g's. The force is always "downward" no matter how far you're leaned (until you lean too far and lowside).

Cars, however, with their four wheels on the ground, cannot roll as effectively, hence "centrifugal force."

There was a PBS special a while back about a plane crash investigation--something about the artificial horizon being busted, flying at night, going into a smooth banked turn... the wings were nearly vertical before anyone noticed. Dangerously delusive, for sure.

Atom Eyes--yup.

This is the one I was thinking of--not quite how I remembered it, but related.

More interesting that the barrel roll in mrmoonpie's link is the first 12 seconds of the video, which is actually a VMU (velocity minimum unstick) test, which is actual proof of the lowest speed at which the aircraft can become airborne.

The aircraft is not really under control at all for the first few seconds of flight- look at the uncommanded right turn (roll) after liftoff (at 7 seconds into the video) that Tex has to stop by judicious application of left rudder. Look closely and you'll see the yaw, which rights the wings because the outside wing on the turn speeds up relative to the inside one, producing more lift.

At the low speed and high angle of attack in this test, using the ailerons to try and correct the roll would be fatal, as the increased down aileron drag on the low wing (down aileron meaning downward deflection) would stall that wing, leading to an incipient spin (which of course would not develop since the airplane would crash first.)

This is why test pilots get paid well.

Cool story and very well-written.

Of course, if you really want to talk about coordinated flight....