Hot Tea in an Upside-Down Plane

The pilot rolls the plane all the way over while you’re mid-sip. Does the tea stay in your cup, or end up on the ceiling? In a real barrel roll the plane never stops curving, so the tea stays pressed into the cup, like water in a bucket swung over your head. Bob Hoover poured himself iced tea mid-roll, and in 1955 Boeing’s test pilot Tex Johnston rolled the 707’s prototype twice over Lake Washington in front of airline executives. Airliners don’t do this: it was a one-off stunt, and Boeing’s president told him not to do it again. Fly upside down in a straight line, though, and it’s a different story. Sources: HistoryLink.org Essay 390, “Boeing prototype jet performs dramatic roll over Lake Washington on August 7, 1955”; Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, North American Rockwell Shrike Commander 500S (Bob Hoover); “Bob Hoover Flies the Shrike,” North American Rockwell film (Internet Archive). #Aviation #Physics #Shorts