AIRSHOW DISPLAYS AND
FORMATIONS
WITH THE
747-400 Guy Leitch
AN ESSENTIAL PART of displaying airliners is keeping the huge aircraft in front of the crowd. Flying an airshow in an airliner at its usual high speeds uses up much airspace and the crowd may lose interest if the aircraft disappears out of sight for too long. The higher the speed of the aircraft, the greater its radius of turn. The 747-400 was therefore displayed at airshows with 20 degrees of flap which made a relatively sedate 160 knots easily manageable – with still a good margin of safety over the stall speed.
Captain Flippie Vermeulen displayed an SAA 747-400 at the Yeovilton Air show with Scully Levin. Flippie describes how Scully is very focussed on providing the crowd with the best views of the aircraft. For this reason, the ideal viewing angle is considered to be a 125 degree arc in front of the crowd line. To remain within this arc it is always tempting to use tight turns, but that increases the G loading and airliners are very restricted in the amount of G-forces they may be subjected to, being 2.5-G in level flight with flaps up. With flaps deployed, the G-limit is even lower.
Scully Levin’s display of the 747-400 at Yeovilton in England is still talked about. Pic Paul Johnson - Flightline.
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December / January 2021/22
