Test Pilot

GENERAL

1. What is the most common reason for gear-up landings?
2. What is the difference between severe and extreme turbulence?
3. A Beech Bonanza B36TC and a Piper Malibu Mirage have wing areas of 187.8 and 183.8 square feet, respectively, and maximum-allowable gross weights of 3,850 and 4,300 pounds, respectively. Everything else being equal, which airplane experiences the greater G-load in response to a given vertical gust and why?
4. A pilot can encounter structural icing when flying through a cloud consisting of supercooled water droplets (water that remains in a liquid state below 0 degrees Celsius). Why do these droplets not freeze when the ambient temperature is below freezing?
5. From reader Robert (Boom) Powell: Two qualified pilots flying in formation with inaccurate tachometers want to fly at exactly the same rpm. How can they do this?
6. In what year did the first nonstop flight around the world occur? (Try to guess within five years.)
7. A Cessna 172 has only one static port, which is on the left side of the fuselage. If a forward slip is performed at a given indicated airspeed, which is safer, a left or right slip?

MULTIPLE CHOICE

8. The first commercial jetliner to be intentionally flown in excess of Mach 1.0 (the speed of sound) was a
   1. Boeing 707.
   2. Convair 990.
   3. Douglas DC-8.
   4. Lockheed 1011.
9. From reader Brian Meyer: The centrifugal force acting on each propeller blade of a typical general aviation airplane during takeoff is closest to
   1. 400 pounds.
   2. 4,000 pounds.
   3. 40,000 pounds.
   4. 400,000 pounds.
10. The only airplane in the world equipped to fly into the core of a mature thunderstorm is
    1. a Beech King Air.
    2. an L188C Electra sailplane.
    3. a Lockheed EC-130Q Hercules.
    4. a North American T-28 Trojan.

TRUE OR FALSE

11. A pilot stands facing a 20-knot wind that later increases to 60 knots. The force against the pilot's body increases by a factor of three.
12. A private pilot about to take off in a typical single not equipped with a minimum equipment list discovers that one of his two VOR receivers is inoperative. He may legally depart on a lengthy VFR cross-country flight at night.
13. A pilot flying a typical single with a fixed-pitch propeller enters a dive and accelerates to VNE with the throttle fully closed. He should anticipate that engine rpm will exceed the redline.

ANSWERS

1. Water landings in amphibians. (Sorry about that.)
2. Severe turbulence causes large, abrupt changes in altitude and/or attitude, and the aircraft may be momentarily out of control. Extreme turbulence makes aircraft control practically impossible and may cause structural damage.
3. The B36TC and the Malibu Mirage have wing loadings (gross weight divided by wing area) of 20.5 and 23.4 pounds per square foot, respectively. The B36TC has the lighter wing loading, which results in more acceleration (G-load).
4. The most common reason is that water vapor condenses on microscopic salt particles (hygroscopic nuclei), which lowers the freezing point of the droplets. When disturbed by an airplane, the droplets can change instantly into ice.
5. The wingman moves behind the leader and views the leader's propeller disc through his own. Because of stroboscopic effect, the wingman will see a line. He adjusts his throttle until the line remains stationary.
6. The first such flight was completed on March 2, 1949, by a Boeing B-50A. The Lucky Lady II was refueled in flight four times by KB-29 tankers and flew 23,453 statute miles in 94 hours, 1 minute.
7. During a left slip, ram air from the left enters the static port and pressurizes the static line to the airspeed indicator. This reduces IAS and is a safe-side error. During a right slip, IAS is greater than what it should be and is not as safe.
8. (c) A DC-8-43 was flown at Mach 1.012 during a test flight over Edwards Air Force Base in 1961.
9. (c) This should inspire pilots to thoroughly inspect their propellers before flight.
10. (d) The other aircraft are used to fly into developing thunderstorms. The special T-28 has armor-plated leading edges, steel bracing over the canopy, and a three-quarter-inch-thick windshield.
11. False. Wind force increases in proportion to the square of the increase in speed. Similarly, parasite drag rises in proportion to the square of an increase in indicated airspeed (everything else being equal). Tripling airspeed (or wind speed) increases drag by a factor of nine.
12. True. However, the receiver must not be required by the aircraft's equipment list, an airworthiness directive, or a supplemental type certificate. Also, it must be removed before departure or deactivated and placarded "inoperative."
13. True. Aircraft certification regulations allow up to a 10-percent overspeed under these conditions. This should be avoided, however, as propeller and engine damage could eventually occur.