Comments on: VIDEO: Boeing 707 Barrel Roll by Test Pilot Tex Johnson

By: David Parker Brown

David Parker Brown — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 16:52:07 +0000

Hey Byron,

It is too bad the photos didn’t make it, but having a family story is pretty sweet as well! Thanks for sharing.

David

By: Byron Goch

Byron Goch — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 16:36:55 +0000

My Stepfathers Family were there and witnessed the infamous roll. My Stepfather told me about this stunt years ago and had the pictures to back up what he told me. The pitures unfortunately have been lost but a check of the seattle news paper will satisfy any of you “doubtful minds”

By: Caretaker

Caretaker — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 09:13:25 +0000

Sorry to disappoint you but there is a case of a 747 executing a roll, albeit it was near vertical and and lost a bunch of angels. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFd8YCpqpfA

By: BostonShuffler

BostonShuffler — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 21:18:37 +0000

As far as I know a Lufthansa crew tried a roll with a 707 (Boeing 720-030B
D-ABOP “Bremen”) on July 15 1964 and crashed the aircraft. Only three crew on board, all killed in accicent.

http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19640715-0

By: R Lopaka

R Lopaka — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 16:59:31 +0000

Boeing Baby!!!!

By: RON ZIOR

RON ZIOR — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 04:46:36 +0000

GREATEST AERIAL AROBATIC EVER.
I WAS AT BOEING IN 1966 AS INSTRUCTOR FLIGHT ENGINEER. TEX WAS A
LEGIT LEGEND THEN AND NOW…ALL THE COMMENTS ARE PURE RUBBISH,
FROM PEOPLE WHO NEVER HAD THE BALLS TO DO WHAT TEX DID… PERIOD.
THANK YOU, RON ZIOR

By: Joey

Joey — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 07:49:41 +0000

My father was there and watched as Kelly rolled the mighty 707 and it just floored everybody to say the least! One interesting fact is that he could have had a whole plane full of people all with drinks in their hands while doing the roll and none of them would have spilled a drop during the entire roll!

By: David Parker Brown

David Parker Brown — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 01:42:27 +0000

They can’t . The newer planes won’t allow pilots to do a roll.
David

By: Bradley

Bradley — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 01:26:40 +0000

Or how about rolling a 747 or 777. You could roll each and every one of these Boeing products – no sweat at all. If you were careful and kept it at 1g you could have a whole load of people on board as well to enjoy all the fun!!!!

By: Ian Kluft

Ian Kluft — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 04:55:58 +0000

It’s “close enough” to call it a 707 because they were using it to sell 707s.

Just like Johnston was told “don’t do it again”, it seems very unlikely that an even more risk-averse large company today would let their test pilots do a roll on a test flight, much less in front of a crowd. But if flown correctly with enough extra altitude for safety margin, a 1G roll would be completed just as safely today as it was then. There is no technical reason why it couldn’t be done.

Regulations are a different story. Once the wings roll past 60 degrees, it’s aerobatics, which aren’t allowed over congested areas, in controlled airspace and other conditions in FAR 91.303. So it wouldn’t happen over the Seattle metro area without a written waiver from the FAA. And that isn’t going to happen.

There are uncongested/uncontrolled areas where it could be done legally. The only reason why it’s remotely possible that they’d consider it would be simply as a publicity stunt, just like it was in 1955. The first one to do it today would probably reap plenty of new PR from it. But nevermind that. It’s still not likely to happen.

By: OysterEngineer

OysterEngineer — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 15:45:51 +0000

It wasn’t a 707, it was the Boeing 367-80, or Dash 80. Although the Dash 80 served as a prototype for both the KC-135 & the 707, it was very different from both airplanes in almost every detail. For example, the Dash 80 had a MTOW of only 80 tons vs the 707-120 at 128 tons.

By: Edwin

Edwin — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 06:33:55 +0000

Jaja, a 787 doing that would be crazy!