Test Pilot

GENERAL

1. A flamboyant and famous race pilot of the 1930s, _______, frequently took along as "copilot" his pet _______. The pet's name was _______.
2. What is the easiest way to fly an airplane at a constant angle of attack?
3. The sun reaches its maximum northerly position over the Earth when it is directly above the Tropic of Cancer (23.5 degrees north latitude) on the first day of summer (in the Northern Hemisphere). This is south of every point in the 48 states. Why, then, must a pilot look northwest (and not southwest) to view the sunset on at least this day from any point in the 48 states?
4. How were metal darts used during aerial warfare in World War I?
5. Many years ago, some aircraft were equipped with engine altimeters. What were these?
6. Why is that wind-direction (runway-in-use) indicator found at many airports called a tetrahedron?
7. What was America's first all-metal fighter? (It also was the first monoplane to enter U.S. military service, the last with an open cockpit, the last with fixed landing gear, and the last with externally braced wings.)

MULTIPLE CHOICE

8. Because of a mechanical problem, a pilot flying a retractable-gear airplane has to make a gear-up landing. In most cases, his best choice of landing sites would be a

   1. dirt runway.
   2. foamed, hard-surface runway.
   3. grass runway.
   4. hard-surface runway that has not been foamed.

9. Everything else being equal, a properly inflated tire wears evenly across its tread. The tread wears more toward its center when the tire is _______ and more toward its shoulders when _______.

   1. overinflated, overinflated
   2. overinflated, underinflated
   3. underinflated, overinflated
   4. underinflated, underinflated

10. Louis Blériot made history on July 25, 1909, when he used his Blériot XI Monoplane to make the first airplane flight across the English Channel. Which of the following is incorrect?

    1. The flight took 36 minutes, but aircraft endurance was three hours, 30 minutes.
    2. Paper, not fabric, was used as the structural covering.
    3. The aircraft utilized ailerons for roll control.
    4. The French government stationed a destroyer at midchannel in case Blériot had to ditch.
    5. The flight ended with a crash landing atop the white cliffs of Dover.

TRUE OR FALSE

11. During cruise flight, the canard surfaces ("moustache") of a Beech Starship are swept back 30 degrees, but when the aircraft is slowed to its landing configuration, they are repositioned to 4 degrees of forward sweep.
12. Some jet fighters have roll rates in excess of 720 degrees per second, but a barn swallow can roll in excess of 5,000 degrees per second and pivot its head nearly 360 degrees during flight.
13. A certain private pilot has only one rating: airplane single-engine land. This pilot, therefore, may not act as pilot in command of a motorglider but may carry passengers in an amphibian.

ANSWERS

1. Roscoe Turner's pet lion was named Gilmore. (Turner's sponsor at that time was the Gilmore Oil Company, the logo of which was a lion.)
2. Don't do anything. With the wings level and in smooth air, an airplane will automatically seek and maintain its trimmed airspeed and angle of attack.
3. When viewing the setting sun, we look in a direction along a great-circle route toward that point on the Earth's surface over which the sun is directly located. Such a great-circle "routing" makes it appear as though the sun is north of our position, even though it is not.
4. Called fléchettes, which is French for small arrows, the darts were dropped from aircraft with the intent of deflating airships and balloons.
5. These were manifold pressure gauges that indicated the altitude corresponding to the pressure produced in the intake manifold of a supercharged engine. For example, a manifold pressure of 28 inches Hg was indicated by an engine altitude of 2,000 feet.
6. From geometry, a tetrahedron is any solid bounded by four polygons. ( Tetra is a prefix meaning four, and a polygon is a plane figure bounded by three or more straight sides.)
7. Introduced in 1934, the revolutionary P–26 Peashooter was Boeing's last fighter and for a short while was America's fastest. It was called a Peashooter because it had a long tubular gun sight that resembled a peashooter.
8. (d) According to FAA News, this usually results in minimal aircraft damage and no bodily injury. Softer surfaces can result in a part of the aircraft "digging in," and foamed (slippery) surfaces can cause a loss of directional control. These conditions can increase damage and the possibility of injury.
9. (b) With respect to wear alone, a tire should be replaced when any of its internal fabric is visible or when any groove is worn to its base at any spot on the tire.
10. (c) Like the Wright Flyer, wing warping was used on the Blériot XI Monoplane for roll control.
11. True. This helps to offset the nose-down pitching moment created by flap deployment.
12. True. According to avian experts and flight biologists Ken Dial and Doug Warrick, all birds can turn their heads almost 360 degrees both in flight and on the ground. They can also sustain up to 14 Gs because their heads are not above their hearts during flight.
13. True. A glider with an engine is still a glider, not an airplane, and requires a glider rating. The amphibian may be flown as long as the pilot does not engage in water operations. (Flight through rain is allowed.)