Aerobatics

Aerobatics is the practice of flying maneuvers involving aircraft attitudes that are not used in conventional passenger-carrying flights.

Aerobatic flying requires a broader set of piloting skills and exposes the aircraft to greater structural stress than for normal flight.

The first military aerobatic team to use smoke at will during displays was Fleet Air Arm 702 Squadron "The Black Cats" at the Farnborough Airshow in September 1957.

[11] Aerobatics are taught to military fighter pilots as a means of developing flying skills and for tactical use in combat.

Many aerobatic manoeuvres were indeed developed in military conflicts, e.g. the Immelmann turn or Split S. Aerobatics and formation flying is not limited solely to fixed-wing aircraft; the British Army, Royal Navy, Spanish Air Force and the Indian Air Force, among others, have helicopter display teams.

Low-level aerobatics are extremely demanding and airshow pilots must demonstrate their ability before being allowed to gradually reduce the height at which they may fly their show.

Experienced aerobatic pilots have been measured to pull ±5 g for short periods while unlimited pilots can perform more extreme maneuvers and experience higher g levels -possibly up to +8/−6 g.[13] The limits for positive g are higher than for negative g and this is due to the ability to limit blood pooling for positive g maneuvers, but it is generally accepted that +9 g for more than a few seconds will lead to loss of consciousness (also known as GLOC).

Aerobatic competitions usually do not attract large crowds of spectators since the manoeuvers are flown at safe altitudes to avoid accidents.