Test Pilot

GENERAL

1. Many unimproved airports have "runway halfway" signs that indicate to pilots the midpoint of a runway. According to the Aeronautical Information Manual, what rule of thumb can a departing pilot use to enhance safety at such an airport?
2. A pilot transmitting on an ATC frequency identifies his aircraft as "Compassion Three-Seven-Golf." What does such a call sign signify?
3. What was the only U.S. fighter aircraft to be in production before, during, and after World War II?
4. For what aeronautical purpose was the tower atop the Empire State Building originally intended?
5. The Luftwaffe is the name of Germany’s air force. What does the word mean in English?
6. With respect to seaplanes, what is the difference between pontoons and floats?
7. A canard aircraft is one on which the horizontal stabilizer/elevator is mounted ahead of the wing and near the nose of the aircraft. Why is such an aircraft referred to as a canard?

MULTIPLE CHOICE

8. Which of the following single-engine airplanes have been converted into twins?

1. Ercoupe
2. North American Navion
3. North American P–51 Mustang
4. Piper Super Cub
5. Piper Tri-Pacer

9. From reader William Chester: Assume that Voyager flew along a great-circle route and at a constant altitude during its historic nonstop, unrefueled flight around the world. How much would the circular distance flown have increased had Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager flown 1,000 feet higher?

1. 1 nautical mile
2. 6 nautical miles
3. 10 nautical miles
4. 60 nautical miles

10. A Boeing 747 cruising at Flight Level 350 has a true heading of 360 degrees and an unknown airspeed. The 100-knot wind at that altitude is from 270 degrees true. To an observer on the ground, the contrail appears to be aligned

1. to the east of north.
2. to the west of north.
3. north.
4. The answer cannot be determined with the information provided.

TRUE OR FALSE

11. Spin recovery in a typical single-engine lightplane consists of reducing the angle of attack, applying antispin rudder, neutralizing the rudder, and recovering from the dive (in that sequence).
12. All civil airports in the United States equipped with runway lights are also equipped with rotating beacons.
13. A flying automobile has been the dream of many aircraft designers. Although many have been built and test flown, none has ever been certified by the FAA or its predecessor, the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA).
14. During World War II, a Douglas DC–4 was stripped of its engines and converted into a cargo-carrying glider.

ANSWERS

1. The rule of thumb states that a pilot should abort the takeoff if 70 percent of the liftoff speed is not achieved at the halfway point, since it might not be possible to lift off in the remaining distance. Consult paragraph 7-5-6 of the AIM for other considerations.
2. This FAA-approved call sign is used by public-benefit flights such as those flown by Angel Flight and similar organizations.
3. The Lockheed P–38 Lightning (the "fork-tailed devil"). It shot down more Japanese aircraft during World War II than any other—among them the airplane carrying Adm. Isoroku Yamamoto, the man who planned the attack on Pearl Harbor.
4. The original tower (now at the base of the TV tower) was designed as a mooring mast for transatlantic airships. Gusty winds at 1,350 feet asl (above street level) resulted in several unsuccessful mooring attempts, and the idea was abandoned.
5. Luftwaffe means air weapon.
6. There is no difference. Pontoon is an obsolete word used to describe a float.
7. Canard is French for duck. The aircraft is so named because the aft location of the wing makes it look like a duck in flight. (A duck’s wing also is at the rear of its body.) The 1903 Wright Flyer was a canard design.
8. All of them. They were, respectively, the Erco Twin Ercoupe, Riley Twin Navion, North American F–82 Twin Mustang, Wagner/Piper Twin Cub, and Wagner Twin Tri-Pacer.
9. (a) The easiest way to calculate the answer is to recognize that the difference in the circumference of two circles is equal to 2 3 pi 3 the difference in their radii, which—in this case—is 2 3 3.14 3 1,000 feet = 6,280 feet. (A nautical mile is 6,080 feet.)
10. (c) The airplane and its contrail move together as a single unit within the westerly air mass (or flow). The contrail will have the same direction as the heading of the airplane.
11. False. The first step is to apply antispin rudder and the second is to reduce angle of attack. This maximizes rudder effectiveness in arresting autorotation.
12. False. Although most airports with runway lights do have rotating beacons, some do not, which can surprise those expecting to see a beacon in the distance when attempting to locate an airport at night.
13. False. An early flying automobile to be certified was the Airphibian (1950), which was conceived and designed by Robert Edison Fulton Jr. It took less than five minutes to convert the airplane into an automobile and vice-versa. Another was the Aerocar, which was certified six years later.
14. False. A Douglas C–47 (a military variant of the DC–3), however, was converted into a glider and renamed the XCG–17. The conversion occurred too close to the war’s end to be of value.