The new Lockheed Martin LM-100J is essentially a civilian version of the C-130J Hercules already in service with militaries all over the world, from the United States to Denmark to India. But this civilian version is new, which means Lockheed Martin is trying to sell some planes. No better way to do that than with some tricks.
The loop, performed at the world-famous Farnborough Air Show, starts around 1:53 in just in case the video doesn’t spool up correctly:
This actually isn’t the first civilian version of a C-130 ever made. That honor goes to the earlier Lockheed L-100 Hercules, which ended production in 1992 with just over 100 examples built, according to Airliners.net.
But even the newest L-100 is over 25 years old, which means that they’re going to start need replacing soon. So Lockheed Martin, out of the kindness of its heart and also sales figures, has decided to make the LM-100J for those people who want a new one (which Aviation Week reported is going for a list price of between $60 and $70 million).
Of course, $70 million dollars is quite a bit of money just to do a loop in a huge plane. And I’m not sure whatever cargo you’re carrying will appreciate being upside down.
But that’s not your problem. That’s your cargo’s problem. You’re just out here, doing loops.