The nature of whirl of a rigid rotor in externally pressurized air-lubricated journal bearings, including self-acting bearings as a special case, is discussed and an experimental investigation described. Rotor unbalance leads to synchronous whirl which can persist through one or more critical speeds. Self-excited whirl is likely when the rotational frequency is about twice the lowest critical frequency. We discuss the effects of supply pressure, number and location of sources, rotational speed, mass, unbalance, and load upon the onset of self-excited whirl, and describe first-order prediction techniques.