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Old 23rd Jul 2016, 15:04
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EMIT
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: The Netherlands
Age: 67
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Limits

Wageslave, the limits in civil aviation that you seem to have in mind, like 30 degrees of bank, are just operational "limits" - the companies don't want you to exceed those numbers because they would probably frighten the customers.
The civil aircraft themselves do not care about bank or pitch limits so much. Like already stated, angle of attack, G and speed are real limits for the airframes and you can rest assured that the display pilots will respect those.
The flight control limits of Airbus are a lot more relaxed than you seem to think. The bank limit is 66 degrees, which, if applied in a level turn, would coincide with the G limit of 2,5 G. Of course, Bitchin' Betty will yell BANK ANGLE if you go well over 30 degrees bank.
Pitch is not limited by itself, but is certainly limited by available speed and power. No chance to pull an airliner over the top into a half loop.
The maneuvers only LOOK spectacular, in terms of achieved pitch and bank, they ARE NOT really, from a pilots perspective. The trick is to have a light aircraft and use full thrust, contrary to the commercial practice of minimising thrust use.
When you bring an empty aircraft to an overhaul facility, just do your standard trick of flying at V2 + 15 kts during the take-off and all onlookers will think that you are doing a display. Just don't be lazy to only use 15 degrees of pitch attitude and disregard the speed going way over the SOP speed of V2 + 15, what many "real civvy" pilots would do, out of fear that their "excessive pitch" would somehow get them clobbered.
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