Test Pilot

MULTIPLE CHOICE

1. Reader John Price asks: When may a pilot perform a loop in a properly certificated airplane without wearing a parachute?
   1. When flying solo
   2. When receiving dual instruction
   3. Both of the above
   4. None of the above
2. A pilot flying VFR enters the traffic pattern of an airport with an elevation of 200 feet and a published traffic pattern altitude of 1,200 feet at a time when the tower controller reports a 1,300-foot overcast. The downwind leg should be flown at an altitude of
   1. 1,200 feet msl.
   2. 1,100 feet msl.
   3. 1,000 feet msl.
   4. 800 feet msl.
3. The coinventor of a frequency-switching munitions device that was to allow pilots to guide torpedoes once they entered the water was
   1. actor Clark Gable.
   2. actress Hedy Lamarr.
   3. Gen. William (Billy) Mitchell.
   4. famed pilot R.A. (Bob) Hoover.

TRUE OR FALSE

4. Flutter, which can destroy an airplane or glider, is a function of indicated airspeed.
5. The around-the-world flight of Voyager could not be logged as a cross-country flight.
6. From Reader Thomas J. Nagorski: The Wright brothers never flew together in the same airplane.

GENERAL

7. For what military purposes were kites used during World War II?
8. When the surface wind blows across a runway at a -degree angle, the crosswind component during takeoff or landing is exactly half of the reported wind speed.
9. Can you estimate, within 50 feet, the total distance available for takeoff on the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Hornet when the first B?25 took off on Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle's daring attack on Japan during World War II?
10. Reader Rob Edward asks: What is the international (ICAO) definition of a broken layer?
11. An air traffic controller tells a pilot to "Contact Albuquerque Center on 121.475 MHz." How would the pilot know that he has been given an incorrect frequency?
12. Why are the vertical tail surfaces of Northwest Airlines' aircraft painted solid red (or nearly so)?

ANSWERS

1. (a) An instructor and student are not required to wear parachutes when practicing an aerobatic maneuver (such as a spin) required for an FAA flight test. Because a loop is not so required, parachutes must be worn.
2. (c) The base of the overcast is 1,500 feet msl. Being in controlled airspace (Class D), the pilot must observe cloud-clearance regulations.
3. (b) Lamarr (nee Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler) was much more than a glamorous movie star.
4. False. Flutter is a function of true airspeed, which is why VNE must be reduced in some aircraft at high altitude.
5. True. The FAA states that a cross-country flight must include a landing at an airport other than the point of departure. Voyager pilots Rutan and Yeager took off from and landed at the same airport, Edwards Air Force Base.
6. False. The brothers made it a firm rule never to fly together to ensure that one of them would be available to continue their work. On May 25, 1910, however, Orville took Wilbur for their only flight together, a tacit concession that most of their work had been completed.
7. Russia used kites to drop propaganda leaflets over the eastern front, and the Allies raised them over ships as protection against dive bombers.
8. 30 degrees. In trigonometry, the sine of 30 degrees is 0.5.
9. 404 feet. The carrier steamed into a strong surface wind to enable the heavily loaded aircraft to become airborne.
10. The International Congress of Agricultural Organizations defines a broken layer as a nonproductive hen. April Fool!
11. The emergency communications frequency is protected by a buffer that excludes the use of three channels immediately above and below 121.5 MHz.
12. During the airline's infancy, it operated mostly in the northern United States. The tails were painted red to enhance locating a downed aircraft in the snow.