Test Pilot

GENERAL

1. A pilot about to embark on a winter flight determines that the barometric pressure en route is forecast to be in excess of 31.00 inches Hg. What must he do prior to operating in such a high-pressure area?
2. Why does moving the center of gravity aft cause stall speed to decrease (and vice-versa)?
3. A pilot is about to depart Honolulu International Airport at local noon on or about either May 27 or July 16. During his preflight inspection, what unusual and strange phenomenon might he notice that never occurs in any of the other 49 states?
4. On many lightplanes, there is a control-surface extension that protrudes forward of the rudder or elevator hinge line. What is the purpose of such an extension?
5. The most famous of all airships was the Hindenburg. Who or what was Hindenburg?
6. What famous pilot was the first person to be killed as the result of an in-flight bird strike?
7. Mid-latitude winds aloft in the Northern Hemisphere are called prevailing westerlies. The prevailing winds aloft in high and low latitudes are called ___________ and __________, respectively.
8. The deck of an aircraft carrier is canted 15 degrees left of the ship’s centerline, so that the relative wind created by the ship is always at an angle to the "runway." When the ambient wind is northerly and equal to the ship’s speed, what must the ship’s heading be so that the pilot can land without a crosswind? (A computer is not required.)

MULTIPLE CHOICE

9. The maximum outside air temperature at which carburetor ice can occur is approximately
   1. 107 degrees F (41.7 degrees C).
   2. 97 degrees F (36.1 degrees C).
   3. 87 degrees F (30.6 degrees C).
   4. 77 degrees F (25 degrees C).
10. The actual magnetic heading of an aircraft in a stabilized inverted turn is increasing. (When viewed from above, the aircraft is turning in a clockwise direction). During this turn, the conventional (wet) compass
    1. indicates a constant heading.
    2. indicates a steady decrease in magnetic heading.
    3. indicates a steady increase in magnetic heading.
    4. is unpredictable.
11. The lomcovak (an aerobatic maneuver) is a Czechoslovakian word derived from the name or word that means or represents
    1. a large, stiff drink.
    2. a migraine headache.
    3. a town in Czechoslovakia.
    4. its creator’s mother-in-law.

TRUE OR FALSE

12. A tandem airplane has two seats, one behind the other.
13. A seaplane has been safely and intentionally flown in excess of Mach 1.0 (the speed of sound).
14. From reader John M. Fitzpatrick: Louis Blériot made the first flight across the English Channel.

ANSWERS

1. He must consult the applicable notam. Because most altimeters cannot be set in excess of 31.00 inches Hg, the FAA will publish temporary procedures and restrictions for coping with this unusual condition.
2. When the CG moves aft, the horizontal tail surfaces do not have to work as hard (produce as much downward lift) to keep the tail down. When downward lift on the tail is reduced, the wing does not have to create as much upward (and offsetting) lift. This reduces wing loading and stall speed.
3. Hawaii is the only state south of the Tropic of Cancer. At Honolulu, the sun on these dates passes directly overhead at local noon (when it crosses Honolulu’s meridian). As a result, vertical objects such as vertical fins, poles, and so forth cast no shadows.
4. These are balanced control surfaces. The extensions are sometimes filled with lead and reduce the control force required by the pilot to move these surfaces. Such extensions also reduce the possibility of flutter.
5. Paul von Hindenburg was the second president of the Weimar Republic and appointed Adolf Hitler chancellor of Germany in 1933. The mammoth airship was to have been named the Hitler, but according to The History Channel, der Fuehrer would not permit his name to be used on anything that could fail or be destroyed.
6. Cal Rodgers, first to fly across the United States, was killed in 1912 after a sea gull became jammed in the flight controls of his Wright biplane.
7. Polar easterlies and northeasterly trade winds.
8. 030 degrees. This need not be computed aboard ship, however. The carrier is turned until the "wind sock" and the canted deck are parallel.
9. (a) Serious icing can occur at any power setting when the ambient temperature is between 23 and 62 degrees F. Carburetor ice is possible only when the relative humidity is at least 18 percent.
10. (d) An inverted compass card does not rest on its jeweled pivot point. It instead is contacting some part of the internal structure of the instrument, which makes card movement erratic and unpredictable.
11. (a) Some suggest that the result of consuming a lomcovak is similar to what it feels like to perform one, or that such a drink might be required before having enough courage to perform one for the first time.
12. False. That is a tandem-seated airplane or an airplane with tandem seats. A tandem airplane has two (or more) wings with one behind the other in approximately the same plane.
13. True. The Convair XF2Y-1 Sea Dart was similar to Convair’s F–102 Delta Dagger, but instead of wheels, it was equipped with retractable water skis. After entering a shallow dive on August 3, 1954, the Sea Dart became the world’s first and possibly only supersonic seaplane.
14. False. On January 7, 1785, Jean-Pierre Blanchard and John Jeffries took two and one-half hours to cross the channel in a balloon.