Test Pilot

GENERAL

1. If February is the shortest month of the year, what is the longest month?
2. Why is seizing control of an aircraft by force referred to as a hijack?
3. What was the name of Cessna's eight-place, piston-powered single?
4. Reader Phil Minschwaner asks, "When the cartoon character Tweety sees Sylvester, the cat, he says, 'I tawt I taw a puddy tat.' How can this expression possibly be of interest to a pilot?"
5. Reader Paul R. Schiff asks, "What was the world's first pressurized airliner?"
6. With respect to a biplane, why doesn't the high-pressure area under the top wing interfere with and reduce the effectiveness of the low-pressure area above the bottom wing?
7. A VFR pilot lifts off from Runway 24, which has a magnetic direction of 245 degrees, under the influence of a crosswind that causes a five-degree left drift angle. He should climb on an initial magnetic heading of _____ degrees.
8. Under the same conditions as above, a pilot departs on an IFR flight plan and is advised by air traffic control to "maintain runway heading after takeoff." His initial magnetic heading should be degrees.

MULTIPLE CHOICE

9. A Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird is in a 30-degree banked turn at 85,000 feet and a true airspeed of 1,800 knots. The circumference of the resulting circle is
   1. a. 215 nm.
   2. b. 515 nm.
   3. c. 815 nm.
   4. d. 1,115 nm.
10. In terms of what is best for the engine, the least harmful way to simulate the sudden failure of an engine developing cruise power is to
    1. a. close the throttle.
    2. b. move the mixture control to idle cutoff.
    3. c. turn off the magnetos.
    4. d. turn the fuel valve to the Off position.
11. The localizer of an instrument landing system (ILS) has a width of
    1. a. three degrees.
    2. b. four degrees.
    3. c. five degrees.
    4. d. none of the above

TRUE OR FALSE

12. While taking off from a sea-level airport in an airplane with a normally aspirated engine and a constant-speed propeller on a standard day, the indicated manifold pressure is 29.92 inches of Hg.
13. A tricycle-gear airplane with a 50-knot stall speed is tied down loosely while pointed into a 60-knot wind. The wings cannot develop sufficient lift to cause the airplane to rise off the ground.
14. A typical single with retractable landing gear is descending on a typical glidepath (or VASI) at its best glide speed in the landing configuration. The engine fails when two miles from the airport. By maintaining the best glide speed and immediately retracting the gear and flaps, the pilot most likely can glide to a safe landing on the runway.

ANSWERS

1. October. In most of the United States, clocks are set back one hour in October to end daylight-saving time, which makes this month 31 days and one hour long.
2. The most widely accepted origin of the word hijack stems from "High, Jack," a command given to drivers of trucks loaded with illicit liquor in the 1920s to raise their arms during highway robberies. It is, of course, unwise to say "Hi" to a pilot named Jack.
3. The Stationair 8, which was essentially a Cessna 207 Skywagon with eight seats.
4. The five successive waypoints on the GPS Runway 16 approach to Portsmouth/Pease International Tradeport (KPSM) in New Hampshire are ITAWT, ITAWA, PUDYE, TTATT, and IDEED (see a puddy tat).
5. The Boeing 307 Stratoliner, a four-engine taildragger that first flew on the last day of 1938.
6. According to popular wisdom, such interference does occur but is insignificant when the distance between the two wings (gap) is greater than the longest chord of either wing.
7. 250. The pilot is expected to track along the extended runway centerline.
8. 245. The pilot is expected to maintain a magnetic heading that coincides with the magnetic direction of the runway.
9. (b) The turn radius is 82 nm. The Blackbird holds the current world speed record for jet airplanes of 1,907 knots, but many believe that it can fly faster.
10. (b) Also, the throttle should be kept open. This allows manifold pressure to remain high and keeps the combustion chambers filled with shock-absorbing air. This, however, is not necessarily the safest way to simulate an engine failure.
11. (d) Localizer width depends on runway length and is tailored to be 700 feet wide at the runway threshold. Therefore, the longer the runway, the narrower the localizer.
12. False. Manifold pressure will be less because of pressure losses caused by restrictions to the flow of induction air such as filters, bends in the plumbing, throttle valves, and so forth.
13. True. The angle of attack of the wings is too small (and possibly negative) to generate sufficient lift.
14. False. To glide along a three-degree glideslope or VASI requires an airplane to have a 20-to-1 glide ratio; the typical single can glide only half that well.