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My question has two dimensions:

Disclaimer: Hypothetical question, I am a humble private pilot!

  1. How fast you need to be and how fast you need to turn up so that you do not burn out all your kinetic energy in the lower arc of the climb and at the top you have enough authority to bank and dive back, not simply come to total stop and crash down like a rock.

  2. Is Cessna capable of handling the kind of G's and maneuverability? Can it turn up into as sharp a rotation as required!

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  • $\begingroup$ "Is Cessna capable of handling the kind of G's", I thought this was the basis for the first question. Do you have really two questions? I think this answer does deal with the zoom climb, in general (only a bit of the answer). $\endgroup$ – mins Jan 13 '18 at 23:13
  • $\begingroup$ Not sure how vertical flight can be achieved by banking and turning... $\endgroup$ – Koyovis Jan 14 '18 at 1:04
  • $\begingroup$ @Koyovis, I mean at the end of climbing you just don't stall or crash and fall like a rock. You still can bank left and descend! $\endgroup$ – kamran Jan 14 '18 at 1:38
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    $\begingroup$ I think what you are asking is if the Cessna 172 can perform a Hammerhead. Yes, it is possible, although the vertical portion will be short, and I believe a properly executed hammerhead is less than 2G including the pull up. $\endgroup$ – Ron Beyer Jan 14 '18 at 1:52
  • $\begingroup$ Here’s a C152 performing aerobatics. There are a few videos on YouTube of 172 aerobatics, but they are all cockpit views, so a little hard to tell exactly what they’re doing $\endgroup$ – TomMcW Jan 14 '18 at 3:07
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Might be a good idea to stay humble. Any type of acrobatics may not be recommended if the aircraft has a gravity only fuel feed. Keep in mind if (for example you attempt a loop) and you only make 1/4 of the way through (and are nose up and have lost all forward airspeed), 5 things can happen. Fall straight down tailfirst (will not last long as this is most unstable and the nose wants to be down), tip left, tip right, nose drops back to horizon, nose falls INVERTED to horizon. The last one I would not want to be in. Tipping left or right can be helped with rudder and is known as the "stall turn" or Hammerhead. Nose dropping to horizon would be similar to a stall recovery.

There are aircraft much more suited to do this and qualified people who would be happy to take you up and show how it is done. You may wish to speak with them.

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Well the C-172 is certified as both a normal and utility category airplane with a maximum load factor of +3.8g/-1.52g when loaded within the normal category envelope and +4.4g/-1.76g in the utility category envelope. It is approved for erect spins in the utility category.

As for ‘hard maneuvers’, fly the airplane by the approved maneuvers listed in section 2 of the AFM after receiving qualified instruction on them in the airplane. Neither I or anyone else here who are pilots and flight instructors can help you with anything else.

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