The tailslide is an

aerobatic maneuver Aerobatic maneuvers are flight paths putting aircraft in unusual attitudes, in air shows, dogfights or competition aerobatics. Aerobatics can be performed by a single aircraft or in formation with several others. Nearly all aircraft are capab ...

that starts from level flight with a 1/4 loop up into a straight vertical climb (at full power) until the

aircraft An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines ...

loses

momentum In Newtonian mechanics, momentum (more specifically linear momentum or translational momentum) is the product of the mass and velocity of an object. It is a vector quantity, possessing a magnitude and a direction. If is an object's mass an ...

. When the aircraft's speed reaches zero and it stops climbing, the

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...

maintains the aircraft in a stand-still position as long as possible (this is greatly helped by

thrust vectoring Thrust vectoring, also known as thrust vector control (TVC), is the ability of an aircraft, rocket, or other vehicle to manipulate the direction of the thrust from its engine(s) or motor(s) to control the attitude or angular velocity of the v ...

on newer

fighter aircraft Fighter aircraft are fixed-wing military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat. In military conflict, the role of fighter aircraft is to establish air superiority of the battlespace. Domination of the airspace above a battlefield ...

), and as it starts to fall to the ground backward, tail first, the nose drops through the

horizon The horizon is the apparent line that separates the surface of a celestial body from its sky when viewed from the perspective of an observer on or near the surface of the relevant body. This line divides all viewing directions based on whether i ...

to a vertical down position and the aircraft enters a

dive Diving most often refers to: * Diving (sport), the sport of jumping into deep water * Underwater diving, human activity underwater for recreational or occupational purposes Diving or Dive may also refer to: Sports * Dive (American football), a ...

. A 1/4 loop (push or pull) recovers to level flight. Tailslides will transiently reverse the airflow on many aircraft surfaces, giving abnormal forces compared with forward flight. The control surface linkages must be able to handle these forces without damage or deformation. Not all airplanes capable of aerobatics are also capable of tailslide maneuvers.

"Bell" maneuver

The bell is a variation of the tailslide maneuver, with the only difference being that the pilot performs a

roll Roll or Rolls may refer to: Movement about the longitudinal axis * Roll angle (or roll rotation), one of the 3 angular degrees of freedom of any stiff body (for example a vehicle), describing motion about the longitudinal axis ** Roll (aviation), ...

in the longitudinal axis during the final 1/4 loop (push or pull) while recovering to level flight, out of plane.

Kvochur's bell

Kvochur's bell is a variation where the aircraft propels forward almost vertically while simultaneously braking and following the movement of its tail.Anatoly Kvochur: Perfection is his credo
Yelena Sizova, Iron Eagles, accessed 2009-12-22.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bell Tailslide Aerobatic maneuvers