Favourite Aerobatic Maneuver

[mcrit]

What is everybody’s favourite aerobatic maneuver to perform?

I really like the barrel roll. The low g agrees with my no longer twenty something body and I get a real sense of satisfaction out of finishing the roll at the same altitude and heading as I started.

[Big Pistons Forever]

Barrel roll for me too. Deceptively hard to do really well, but very satisfying when you get one truly symmetrical.

I am also into “Gentleman” aerobatics. Big sweeping maneuvers where the G comes on and off progressively and gently and you just flow from maneuver to another.

[Scudrunner]

Loop. Don't know why maybe its just fun to keep pulling

[Chuck Ellsworth]

Barrel roll for me also.

Especially in the DC3.

[mcrit]

....its just fun to keep pulling

Had a girlfriend that felt the same way.

[digits]

I love to fly straight up while rolling, trying to keep going up while tumbling as you lose airspeed, enjoying the ride until my nose is somehow pointing down.

[cgzro]

Depends on my mood and the plane but I agree a good old barrel roll is hard to beat for the sheer joy of it, especially in lower performance aircraft, add a little pause inverted. It's fun to try to judge just how much pitch up is required, how much aileron and rudder and what airspeed leads to that perfect ending. It's not very satisfying in higher performance aircraft because it's trivially easy.

In a higher performance aircraft my favourite is a flat roll combination, 4 points, 2 points, knife edge to knife edge rolls etc. sometimes I do nothing but a simple vertical turn then a whole bunch of roll combinations flat, then another vertical turn and repeat. I've been known to do this for 30 minutes straight.. never quite get them perfect. You can't beat a super slow roll for challenge in a higher performance aircraft. One of the Red Arrows solo did a fabulous super slow roll few years back at Gatineau .. was most impressive to me.

Snap rolls are also wonderful when done properly and give a great sense of mastery of the plane, an Avalanche for example, its hard to get it just right and the right spot etc.

A rolling turn also gives a huge sense of satisfaction on the rare occasion when it all works out properly and does not give you a bad headache.

[Doin_Time]

Vertical 8

[W5]

Barrel roll for me as well.

[John Swallow]

Don't think I have a favourite; I enjoy all the 'gentleman' aeros. Days gone by we'd do a vertical 'eight and a half'... Three loops stacked one atop the other... Wasn't really much fun: just an exercise in 'g' and speed. Had to use flaps for the third loop.