Test Pilot

MIX 'N MATCH

Match these famous aviators with the most appropriate clues below:

1. Douglas Bader
2. Lincoln Beachey
3. Gregory Boyington
4. Paul Cornu
5. Douglas Corrigan
6. Glenn Curtiss
7. James Doolittle
8. Icarus
9. Charles Kingford-Smith
10. Otto Lilienthal
11. Umberto Nobile
12. Calbraith Rodgers
13. Paul Tibbetts, Jr.
14. Roscoe Turner

1. Curtiss Robin
2. First across the United States
3. First "blind" landing
4. First helicopter flight (1907)
5. First seaplane pilot
6. Glider pioneer
7. High flier
8. Legendary stunt pilot
9. Legless fighter pilot
10. Lion tamer
11. Little Boy
12. Polar dirigible
13. Shepherd
14. United States to Australia

GENERAL

15. How do fair-weather cumulus clouds form over oceans and large bodies of water?
16. What well-known lightplane was the first to incorporate tricycle landing gear?
17. For what purpose have meteorologists found hair from a blond female to be superior to that of any other person?
18. Who was the first man known to fly a heavier-than-air aircraft?
19. List the four forces responsible for yawing and/or rolling an American single-engine airplane to the left during takeoff and/or climb.
    1. ________________________
    2. ________________________
    3. ________________________
    4. ________________________

TRUE OR FALSE

20. Reader Thomas J. Nagorski asks: While preflighting his engine, a pilot notices that the electric fuel pump is labeled "For Automotive Use Only." The flight must be postponed until the pump is replaced.
21. Reader Rob Edward asks: The top of an airport's Class D airspace is shown as "-27." This means that a pilot may fly above the airport at 2,700 feet msl without contacting the control tower.
22. A private pilot with multiengine and instrument ratings but no jet training may serve as second-in-command (copilot) of a small business jet that requires two pilots if the aircraft is not being operated for hire.

BRAINTEASER

23. A pilot is flying directly over an airport with an elevation of 5,000 feet, at an indicated altitude of 8,000 feet msl, while using an updated altimeter setting of 30.42 inches mercury. The air temperature from the ground up to the pilot's altitude is only one-degree Celsius warmer than standard. Without using a computer, arrange the following alphabetically listed altitudes in order of magnitude (lowest altitude first and highest altitude last):
    1. Absolute altitude
    2. Density altitude
    3. Indicated altitude
    4. Pressure altitude
    5. True altitude

ANSWERS

15. When cool air moves horizontally over relatively warm water, it is heated from below and forced to rise. Cumulus clouds form if the dew point is sufficiently high and if the temperature difference between the air and the water is sufficiently large.
16. The Wright Flyer (December 17, 1903)
17. Blond female hair reacts to temperature and humidity changes more than does other hair. It has been used in radiosondes carried aloft in balloons to detect upper air conditions.
18. According to American Heritage of Flight, Sir George Cayley, considered the father of aerial navigation, "coaxed his reluctant coachman [in 1853] into making a trial run in a glider that lifted him across a shallow valley and set him down in a cloud of dust."

20. Not necessarily. Beech and Cessna have used such fuel pumps in many of their aircraft.
21. True. The "-27" indicates that the Class D airspace extends up to but does not include 2,700 feet.
22. False. The pilot must meet the currency requirements of Part 61.55(b) of the Federal Aviation Regulations.