Test Pilot

GENERAL

1. From reader Larry Johnston: What is the oldest continuously operated airport in the United States?
2. A noncantilevered wing has at least one primary strut to provide support. Small or auxiliary struts often are used in conjunction with and to support the main wing struts. These are called ________________.
3. The chicken gun (also called the rooster booster) was developed during the Vietnam era at Ohio's Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. For what is it used?
4. In what light, general aviation airplane does the pilot use the control wheel to steer the nosewheel on the ground in the same manner that he uses the steering wheel in his car?
5. Assume that it is currently 2359 (local time or UTC) on December 28, 1999. What will be the time a minute later at exactly midnight — 2400 or 0000?
6. Only two VOR radials are required to establish a VOR fix. Why are a minimum of three satellites required to establish a GPS fix?
7. St. Elmo's fire is a luminous discharge of static electricity that appears on (and sometimes in) an aircraft during flight in strong electrical fields, especially when in clouds in proximity to thunderstorm activity. Who was St. Elmo?
8. The gosport was the first intercom system. It consisted of a flexible speaking tube that enabled the instructor in the front cockpit of an open-cockpit airplane to speak to his student in the rear cockpit by yelling mightily into the funnel at the talking end of the tube. Why was it called a gosport?

MULTIPLE CHOICE

9. A pilot exercises his emergency authority and intentionally violates one or more of the regulations in FAR Part 91, General Operating and Flight Rules. He is required to file a report of this (these) violation(s) to the FAA
   1. within 24 hours.
   2. within seven days.
   3. within 30 days.
   4. only upon request.
10. What is the largest number of people ever to fly together on one flight?
    1. 984
    2. 1,084
    3. 1,087
    4. 1,187
11. Arrange the following in order of their length, longest first, shortest last.
    1. Graf Zeppelin (German airship)
    2. HMS Titanic (ocean liner)
    3. Hindenburg (German airship)
    4. USS Akron or Macon (Goodyear-built airships)

TRUE OR FALSE

12. Modern aviation transceivers operating in the VHF communications band (118.000-136.975 MHz) utilize frequency modulation (FM).
13. When the fuselage of an airplane is stretched and the fuselage plug is added forward of the quarter-chord of the wing (such as when Beech stretched the F33A into the A36), this has the effect of increasing yaw stability.
14. Thirteen flights carrying 91 people crossed the Atlantic Ocean before Charles A. Lindbergh completed his flight in the Spirit of St. Louis in 1927.

ANSWERS

1. The curators of the museums at both Pearson Field (VUO) in Vancouver, Washington, and College Park (CGS) in Maryland lay claim to this title, and it appears that one of them is right. Take your pick.
2. Jury struts. Those used to connect the wings of a biplane are called interplane struts.
3. This air gun is used to fire chicken carcasses at the windshields and leading edges of jet aircraft to test their ability to endure bird strikes at high speed.
4. The Ercoupe. Because it has no rudder pedals — the ailerons and rudders are interconnected — the control wheel must be used for ground steering. (Crosswind landings are made while crabbing into the wind.)
5. Either is correct as long as it is associated with the correct date. The time could be stated as either 2400 on the day just ending (December 28) or 0000 on the day just beginning (December 29).
6. The line of position (LOP) established by a satellite consists of a circle, and two circles intersect at two points, either one of which could be the aircraft's position. A third such circular LOP is needed to resolve the dilemma.
7. St. Elmo (d. A.D. 303) was the patron saint of sailors, who were the first to observe static electricity dancing on the masts of ancient sailing vessels. Reducing airspeed usually lessens the intensity of St. Elmo's fire.
8. This primitive intercom got its name from the British Military Flying School at Gosport, England, which is where the device was first used. (Gosport was used later as a major embarkation point for the Normandy Invasion in 1944.)
9. (d) A pilot is not required to file a report of such violation(s) unless requested to do so by the FAA. (Refer to FAR 91.3.)
10. (b) and (c) In 1991, a Boeing 747 operated by El Al Israel Airlines took off during an evacuation from Ethiopia with 1,084 people on board. There were three births during the flight, which landed in Tel Aviv with 1,087 people on board.
11. Titanic (883 feet), Hindenburg (803), Akron/Macon (785), and Graf Zeppelin (775).
12. False. They utilize amplitude modulation (AM).
13. False. Everything else being equal, adding vertical surface area forward of the wing decreases yaw stability. Stretching the fuselage aft of the wing's quarter-chord moves the stabilizers farther aft and increases yaw stability.
14. True. Lindbergh was the first to fly nonstop between two major cities, and he did it solo.