AC130 gunship apparently not meant to be inverted

[davbrucas]

Landed safely but scrapped due to pilot error during a test flight when it was temporarily inverted at 15,000 feet.

http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/brand-new-ac-130-ghostrider-a-total-loss-after-going-in-1743122173

[Rick Modena]

Gravity is a muthufucker...

[helosailor]

The bleed-air blimp can do a lot of things, but going inverted is ill-advised...especially with a shit ton of guns on board.

[TexasDevilDog]

Is AC130 not fly-by-wire? Using fly-by-wire, it is just a control system program to stop the pilot from flying a plane outside the control envelope.

[David]

I figured if a 707 could do a roll, certainly a 130 could also.

[Mach1]

Fun Fact:SVO and Hall Hibbard designed the C130 in 1951

[Strychnine]

Love the mil-speak there. "It departed controlled flight."

[SMKR]

Interesting, an AC130 cant go inverted yet a DC10 can.

[Jose]

Love this comment in the article.

Found on ebay:

2015 USAF Ghostrider Gunship
One of a kind
Babied...never tracked or raced...never wintered.
New wings and recently replaced OEM flight crew buckets.
$50 million OBO.
No tire kickers, no mavericks.

[likeitfast55]

Yep, sounds like he put it into a spin that led to an inverted situation. I bet that fuselage is twisted to hell. At least the tail stayed on it. We used to teach use of rudder in upset recovery in our AAMP program. Our crash of an Airbus 330(flt 587) taught us that this is not best way to recover. However these guys(C-130) were in flight test and one of the items must have been a envelope test of the side-slip with use of the rudder and aileron.
Clearly the test pilot went beyond the manufacture limits. If it was a constant "G" maneuver, I have no doubt that the C-130 could fly through the inverted position. This was an aggressive maneuver that exceeded that. Most rudder cross-over situations end in a stall-spin.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Airlines_Flight_587

[68RR]

Yep, sounds like he put it into a spin that led to an inverted situation. I bet that fuselage is twisted to hell. At least the tail stayed on it. We used to teach use of rudder in upset recovery in our AAMP program. Our crash of an Airbus 330(flt 587) taught us that this is not best way to recover. However these guys(C-130) were in flight test and one of the items must have been a envelope test of the side-slip with use of the rudder and aileron.
Clearly the test pilot went beyond the manufacture limits. If it was a constant "G" maneuver, I have no doubt that the C-130 could fly through the inverted position. This was an aggressive maneuver that exceeded that. Most rudder cross-over situations end in a stall-spin.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Americ...nes_Flight_587

Guess he thought he was Tex Johnston...

[Sgt Beavis]

I figured if a 707 could do a roll, certainly a 130 could also.

The 707 in question never exceeded one g of stress on the airframe. It sounds like this poor bird went through several more g's than designed. The crew is fortunate to be alive. I hope it doesn't end the pilots career, though there appear to be mitigating factors.

[SMKR]

I figured if a 707 could do a roll, certainly a 130 could also.

I remember that DC10 doing a roll or two, didnt know a 707 did.

[likeitfast55]

Tex Johnson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ra_khhzuFlE

[SMKR]

Nice