Quote Originally Posted by Bill Greenwood View Post
Jeff, I don't think I have ever seen a ribbon cut by a Steaman. I have seen lots by Pitts, ect. I would think the Stearman would be hard to do an inverted cut act since it probably doesn't fly very well upside down and I assume it doesn't have inverted systems, maybe this one did?
The only way that I could see to do this act would be with lot's of speed so as to have enough lift and then roll to inverted just long enough to make the cut then back up to normal upright flight. That seems to me to take a lot of timing and skii. I never saw Eddie fly, only on Tv or video. I guess one way or the other he had this Stearman act well polished.

I only do rolls in airshows, nothing vertical and nothing really near the ground. When you are doing it at 50 or 100 feet there is just so little margin for error.

I can't think of much more to say, except I've seen this for 31 years and it hasn't gotten any easier. And most of the people lost in warbird or fun type flying have been from some sort of low altitude acro or maneuvering, where there is little time or room to correct a problem.
His 450 Stearman definitely had inverted systems. Flying inverted in any airplane with inverted systems is nothing special from a difficulty or skill standpoint. Stearmans fly inverted OK. Would not take inordinate speed with a 450. It's just a matter of holding the right amount of forward pressure (if not trimmed out) to sustain inverted flight. This is not the first time this sort of thing has happened during an inverted ribbon cut. There are experienced airshow pilots who feel descending to the ribbbon height inverted is dangerous, as this introduces potential for focusing on the ribbon more than your descent rate toward the ground. It looks like he flew dead straight into the ground. Many feel best practice is to roll inverted at the ribbon height and fly a level, stabilized line to the ribbon.