Scudrunners

Don't want to seam like I am just posting this for shock effect as the pilot was killed.
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did he just enter the loop too low?



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There appears to be an apparent unconcern about the altitude...  The aircraft looks like it just flies into the water.  I would have thought that a canard aircraft could exhibit a lot more agility... 

As to the cause, anything is possible:

lack of entry speed
lack of altitude over the top

I know of one military accident that happened because the aircraft entered a loop with more fuel than usual on board.  Those watching said he almost made it...

Clearly some more altitude at the top would have allowed him
to complete the loop at the bottom without hitting the water, but ...

I wonder if he made his entry altitude at the top, but was [b]too fast[/b]
over the top?

It's hard to tell from this video, but he looked like he was really
moving, up high.  Too fast an entry speed for a downward-looping
maneuver will require truly unbelievable G out the bottom to avoid
hitting the ground with the same radius at Clmax.

See first year calculus and the lift equation.

www.pittspecials.com/articles/airspeed_radius.htm

A low-altitude split-S from cruise works if you and your airplane are
rated for +20G.  Otherwise, you hit the ground, or black out, or
break the airplane.  Some pilots even get the hat trick of all three.

Recently enjoyed "SPAAD Storybook", a collection of personal reminiscences of flying the Sabre in Europe.
One fellow, on his first hop, climbed to 40,000, rolled inverted at full power and dove straight down, to go supersonic.
It got out of hand, he waited too long and ended up pulling like mad when he thought he was going to hit the ground. He G-LOC'd himself and when he came to, the Sabre was flying quite crooked and had shed various bits and pieces, including the gear doors, which can withstand 16G. He said that he forgot the speed brakes because " one can't be expected to think of everything."
The plane was a wrinkled writeoff...

Well, some people have trouble landing a Piper Cherokee, too.

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My father used to drop sonic booms on Moncton when
he was bored, using the vertical-dive in a Sabre trick.

He didn't think it was a big deal.  Neither is landing
a Cherokee.

PS  Some people think the Sabre went supersonic
before the Bell X-S-1:

[quote]We know for certain that North American test pilot George Welch took the [b]Sabre supersonic prior to November 13, 1947[/b].

Whether this occurred before the X-1’s historic flight of October 14, readers of the narrative may decide for themselves[/quote]

Some say planes went faster than sound in dives during World War Two.

If they had a prop, unlikely.

That was why I worded my statement like that. It's funny how stories and legends become true in some people's minds even if they are unlikely or even sometimes impossible.

Then again what gets taught as history can be a bit questionable too.

I hate to see a plane wrecked but also don't like losing a pilot. Rest in peace.

Taking a WWII fighter supersonic is not
impossible, but I somehow doubt it
would be enjoyable.

From a great height, enter a high speed
dive and then break the crankshaft so
that the propeller departs to get rid of
the drag.  You are now a glider.

The air will go supersonic over the top
if the wings first, because of the camber.

This will result in a loss of lift and the nose
dropping- called Mach tuck.  You want more
of this.  You gain more speed as you enter
a vertical down line, converting altitude into
airspeed as fast as you can, without a prop
providing thrust or the wings providing lift.

Hopefully your terminal velocity is in excess
of Mach one, or your death will be pointless.

Did I mention that the supersonic shock wave
from your wings will likely render your elevator
ineffective?