Forum: aviation.stackexchange.com
Tags: <boeing-737><aerobatics>
Title: Is it possible to do a barrel roll in a large aircraft like a B737?
Question: Can the bigger planes like B737 do barrel rolling kind of stunts like fighter jets do? I'm sure if it's full of passengers or cargo it would be very difficult and dangerous, but is it possible with an empty aircraft?  I remember  an All Nippon Airways incident  where the co-pilot did a 131 deg roll by mistake but I don't know if a complete barrel roll is actually possible in large planes?

Answers:
sents: text: Yes, it has been done before in an even larger aircraft, the Boeing 367-80, very famously by "Tex" Johnston on August 7, 1955 .
text: This aircraft was the prototype for the Model 707.
text: When a barrel roll maneuver is properly performed the aircraft remains in a positive-G state, so no "inverted flight" is experienced by the aircraft.
text: According to the International Aerobatic Club , The Barrel roll is a combination between a loop and a roll.
text: You complete one loop while completing one roll at the same time.
text: The flight path during a barrel roll has the shape of a horizontal cork screw.
text: Imagine a big barrel, with the airplanes wheels rolling along the inside of the barrel in a cork screw path.
text: During a barrel roll, the pilot always experiences positive Gs.
text: The maximum is about 2.5 to 3 G.
text: The minimum about 0.5 G.
answer_details: author: aviation.stackexchange.com/users/7443/Porcupine911
score: 27
sents: text: Yes, and its happened at least once in a -80 which eventually became the 707.
text: It became so legendary that rumor has it
text: Boeing Chief Test Pilot John Cashman stated that just before he piloted the maiden flight of the Boeing 777 on June 12, 1994, his last instructions from then-Boeing President Phil Condit were "No rolls."
answer_details: author: aviation.stackexchange.com/users/3677/Dave
score: 12
sents: text: Yes, it is possible.
text: We experienced this possibility using a simulator on a 747/400.You have to take a very high angle at the beginning like 25° nose up to avoid exiting with an important nose down and overspeed.
text: Of course doing it with passenger is stricly forbiden.
answer_details: author: aviation.stackexchange.com/users/28515/Pierre FONDER
score: 5
sents: text: Here is a video of a stolen Q400 Dash-8 doing a barrel roll.
text: That's not quite as large as a B737, but I think it's close enough for the purposes of the question, especially given it was accomplished by an amateur.
text: It's fair to assume that a trained pilot could do at least as well in a much larger plane--if they were willing to risk their job/license.
answer_details: author: aviation.stackexchange.com/users/35166/StephenS
score: 3
sents: text: Yes it is possible.
text: It happen in a Brazilian plane hijack in September 1988 on flight VSP375 from Vasp flight company. .
text: The plane was a Boeing 737-317 (# 23176, serial #Boeing 1213, Brazilian register PP-SNT).
text: The hijacker wanted to throw the plane on Brazilian president official home , the pilot tried the maneuver and succeed with 105 passengers onboard.
answer_details: author: aviation.stackexchange.com/users/47051/Hugo Cibien
score: 2

Summary of the answers:
It is possible for large aircraft to do a barrel roll. It has been done on a number of occasions including during a hijack in Brazil in 1988. It has also been tried in a simulator. Evidently it is strictly forbidden to try this with passengers onboard.
Yes, it is possible and it has happened before - in a Boeing 367-80 in 1955 and in a Brazilian plane that was hijacked in 1988. It has also been performed in a simulator. As you would expect, performing the maneuver with passengers on board is strictly prohibited.