Test Pilot

GENERAL

1. On what radial of the Mission Bay (California) Vortac is the Bondo intersection located?
2. Airframe manufacturers of yore created some cryptic model designations for their aircraft. Among such aircraft were the Meyers OTW and the Howard DGA. What do these letters signify?
3. What is the most practical way for a pilot to protect against hydrometeors?
4. If Germany had won World War II, what would have been the longitude of Greenwich, England?
5. A pilot is accelerating during the takeoff roll in a typical single-engine airplane in which the propeller disk is perpendicular to the runway surface and centerline. P-factor, therefore, is not yet a factor. Why, then, does the aircraft still tend to yaw left during the takeoff roll?
6. Who was the first active U.S. president to fly in an airplane, and what was the type of aircraft in which he flew?
7. Speaking of airborne presidents, what is the call sign given to a general aviation aircraft in which an active U.S. president is flying?
8. If topping off means to fill the fuel tanks, what does topping up mean?

MULTIPLE CHOICE

9. A pilot installs a venturi tube on his airplane to power his gyroscopic instruments. The cross-sectional area of the throat of the tube is half of the cross-sectional area of the entrance. During cruise flight at 100 knots at sea level, the airspeed inside the throat of the venturi is doubled, and static pressure is reduced by approximately
   1. 1.5 inches Hg.
   2. 4.5 inches Hg.
   3. 7.5 inches Hg.
   4. 15.0 inches Hg.
10. Which of the following does not belong?
    1. inability to arrest descent rate
    2. lack of pitch authority
    3. lack of roll control
    4. lack of yaw control
11. When the author of this quiz made his first solo flight in 1954, the cost of a sectional chart was
    1. 25 cents.
    2. 50 cents.
    3. $1.
    4. $1.50

TRUE OR FALSE

12. A propeller brake was used on some airplanes to mechanically arrest the rotation of a propeller following engine failure.
13. In 1941, a private pilot was not allowed to fly more than three miles beyond the departure airport at night unless his single-engine airplane was equipped with certified landing flares to illuminate a landing site in case of engine failure.
14. During cruise flight, a pilot experiences total power failure in his single-engine airplane. To maximize glide range, he should pull up the nose and convert excess airspeed into altitude (until reaching best glide speed).

ANSWERS

1. The "double-oh-seven" (007) radial, of course.
2. OTW stands for out to win, and DGA stands for darn good airplane.
3. Wear a raincoat and carry an umbrella. A hydrometeor is any form of liquid water or ice in the atmosphere (including clouds).
4. 13 degrees 15 minutes west. Adolf Hitler had planned to move the world's prime meridian (zero degrees longitude) to Berlin, Germany. He even had maps and charts printed to reflect that change.
5. Engine/propeller torque exerts a rolling force to the left. This increases weight on the left tire and decreases weight on the right tire. The result is much more rolling friction on the left, a force that yaws the aircraft in that direction. Also, the spiraling slipstream from the propeller can strike the left side of the vertical fin, which adds to the left yawing tendency.
6. President Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) flew to Casablanca during World War II in a Boeing 314 seaplane (a "Pan Am Clipper").
7. Executive One.
8. Topping up means to fill a partially inflated airship or balloon with gas (helium).
9. (a) So says Bernoulli's theorem. A vacuum pump, however, is much more effective and typically provides anywhere from two to four times as much pressure reduction.
10. (d) The others are possible characteristics of a stall (in addition to buffeting and activation of a stall warning system).
11. (a) Expired charts sold for 10 cents each; an Aeronca Champion rented for $7 per hour (including fuel); the instructor charged $4 per hour; and 80-octane avgas sold for 35 cents per gallon.
12. True. They were used before the popular acceptance of constant-speed, full-feathering propellers to eliminate the drag caused by windmilling and possibly prevent further engine damage.
13. False. Such flares were required if the aircraft was being operated for hire and obviously were effective only if deployed when the aircraft was directly over the intended landing site. They also drifted with the wind during descent and were known to start ground fires, which created more illumination than the government had intended.
14. False. "Zooming" or "roller-coastering" is inefficient and wastes energy. It is more efficient to maintain altitude until the aircraft has decelerated to its best glide speed.