Can helicopters fly upside down?

Even without these changes, many of today’s helicopters can fly upside down for seconds at a time, notes Frazzoli. “Military and acrobatic helicopter pilots often perform loops and barrel rolls in which their vehicle momentarily flies upside down,” he says. read more

Out of all the stunts performed by individual aircraft, the one that awes me the most is the ‘upside down’ flight. However, flying upside down is not that uncommon for aircraft; fighter pilots regularly engage in this gravity-defying maneuver, both in air shows and sorties. read more

A few modern helicopters can perform a roll and are hence flying upside down for a few moments but they cannot maintain sustained inverted flight, unlike a fixed wing aircraft. Older machines did not have the power or the rotor technology to make rolls a safe aerobatic option. read more