Can a normal domestic airliner fly upside down?

Answer 1

it would be hard to keep the glass of wine on the table!

Answer 2

Yes, normal domestic airliners can fly upside, although it isn't recommended! Everyone here is talking bullshit apart from Edward S and funkysoulfan.

The pilot simply flips the plane (or performs half of a loop-the-loop), then uses the control surfaces ("flaps") to tilt the plane so the wing still forces air downwards. But this is what the pilot was doing for right-side-up flight too: tilting the plane so the wing acts downwards upon the air.

http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/aug97/870899617.Eg.r.html

Answer 3

Commercial aircraft are definitely not designed to fly upside down and could not sustain flight.

Airplane wings have a specific shape — curved on the top and relatively flat on the bottom. Air flowing over the curved top of the wing has to travel faster than the air flowing across the relatively flat bottom of the wing because it has farther to go. This difference creates a low-pressure area (vacuum) on top of the wing, and this is where the majority of the lift is generated.

Flip the airplane over, and the lift is destroyed.

If a commercial jets could sustain flight upside down, doing so would overstress the airframe and cause failure of supporting systems such as fuel and hydraulic. Pilots have demonstrated rolls in the simulator when righting an upset aircraft. Rolls in actual commercial jet aircraft also have been demonstrated by test pilots.

Hope this helps

Answer 4

No.

And dude, NASA does not fly a KC-135 upside down to simulate weightlessness. That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. They fly in a parabolic arc which puts the aircraft in, for all intents, and purposes, a controlled freefall on the downswing to simulate zero g for 30 seconds or so at a time, before the pliot pulls up and climbs for another cycle.

Answer 5

They can, though it could easily lead to metal fatigue and consequently a crash (due to the amount of stress on the structure.) I saw a programme called air crash investigation. It was about this Fed Ex employee who went a bit crazy and attacked the pilots on board. Whilst he was fighting with the 1st officer and engineer the captain flew the MD11 (new version of a DC10) upside down for some time to try and over throw the loon. God the reconstruction was scary..!! I work as cabin crew and it was a nightmare situation..

Answer 6

No. Smaller/stunt planes can move quicker to flip from right side up to upside down, so there is no real loss in air flow over the wings (what keeps it in the air). The larger passenger planes can not maneuver as quickly, so they would lose lift, and end up looking like the photo that Mike sent (lol!).

Answer 7

Uh, no I don't think so. If you know about wing design and the physics of a plane, that would cause low pressure on the bottom of the wing and the plane would fall. Plus their flaps don't turn the way a stunt plane does so they plane wouldn't even get into that position.

Answer 8

No. If it could then it wouldn't be called a normal domestic airliner.

Answer 9

no. its wings would tear off while turning upside down.

Answer 10

Not for long