I'm Guessing It Wasn't Just The Pattern That Was Full....

[csadn]

http://www.flyingmag.com/technique/a...ed-flight-test :

"According to information released by the Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, the Ghostrider crew was conducting steady heading sideslip maneuvers at 15,000 feet over the Gulf of Mexico, about 400 miles south of Elgin Air Force Base. The airplane 'exceeded the targeted angle of sideslip' and the crew lost control of the airplane, which momentarily went inverted."

[BB401]

I guess they discovered a few new Do Not Exceed parameters that will make it into the Manual.......

[csadn]

Generally, "C-130" and "inverted" do not belong in the same sentence....

[clipper1801]

One never knows when they will be exceeded by happenstance or idiocy. I was there when the B-52 did a slow roll into the ground at Fairchild AFB, it was a horrible and tragic disaster . . . involuntary mass conversion.

[Naharaht]

It was an expensive way to find out the C-130's limitations but they are supposed to be tough machines. Tests were even conducted operating a C-130 from an aircraft carrier. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfwJJD5jGXk