Test Pilot

GENERAL

1. Piper named 11 types of aircraft after native North Americans. How many of them can you name, and which was the first such aircraft to be introduced?
2. After making a gear-up landing and sliding to a stop, what is the first action that the pilot is most likely to take?
3. From reader Jerry R. Green: Assuming a normally operating pitot-static system and airspeed indicator, explain how it is possible for the indicated airspeed of an airplane to exceed its true airspeed.
4. N104RB was the fastest civilian airplane in the world. What was it, and how fast did it fly?
5. From reader Rob Edward: While using a sectional chart, a pilot notes a small, solid square in the lower right corner of a communications box for a given vortac. What does this mean?
6. Every square inch on a sectional chart represents only one-fourth as much ground area as a square inch on a world aeronautical chart. Why, then, is it said that a sectional has a larger scale than a WAC?
7. METARs and TAFs use mist (BR) and fog (FG) to describe restrictions to visibility. What is the difference between the two?

MULTIPLE CHOICE

8. From reader Matthew Rodina Jr.: The first civilian flight around the world was conducted by
   1. Wiley Post and Harold Gatty.
   2. Charles Kingsford-Smith.
   3. Wiley Post.
   4. the crew of the Graf Zeppelin.
9. The first airmail letter was written and mailed by
   1. Benjamin Franklin.
   2. Abraham Lincoln.
   3. Theodore Roosevelt.
   4. George Washington.
10. Shell Oil recommends that the oil in an aircraft engine without a cartridge filter should be changed every _____ flight hours or every _____ months, whichever occurs first.
    1. 25, 4
    2. 25, 6
    3. 50, 4
    4. 50, 6

TRUE OR FALSE

11. The German Junkers Ju.87 Stuka dive-bomber of World War II emitted a shrieking sound. This was a coincidental and unexpected result of the aircraft design.
12. Achieving maximum endurance in a propeller-driven airplane at a given altitude requires maintaining the airspeed (angle of attack) at which the lift-to-drag ratio is at a maximum.
13. A major U.S. airline operated a supersonic jetliner in scheduled domestic service.
14. An absence of ground features, as when over water, darkened areas, and terrain made featureless by snow, can create the same illusion during a straight-in, visual approach as when approaching a downhill runway. In each case, the pilot tends to perceive that the aircraft is at a lower altitude than it really is.

ANSWERS

1. The Piper Apache (foreground, p. 134) was the first (1954). The other 10 (in alphabetical order) are the Piper Aztec, Cherokee, Cheyenne, Comanche (background, p. 134), Dakota, Mojave, Navajo, Pawnee, Seminole, and Seneca.
2. He is most likely to move the landing-gear selector to the Down position.
3. This occurs at density altitudes below sea level. For example, at a pressure altitude of 1,000 feet and a true outside air temperature of minus 10 degrees Celsius (14 degrees Fahrenheit), an indicated airspeed of 150 knots yields a true airspeed of 146 knots.
4. Darryl Greenamyer used his privately owned F–104RB Starfighter, the Red Baron, to set a world speed record of 986 mph (857 knots) on October 24, 1977.
5. It means that the pilot is using an out-of-date chart. The solid square previously indicated the availability of AWOS, TWEB, or HIWAS. These services are now indicated by a solid circle containing the letter A (for AWOS or ASOS), T, or H, respectively.
6. The scale of a sectional is 1:500,000. This is twice as large a ratio as 1:1,000,000, the scale of a WAC. In other words, one divided by half a million is a larger fraction—and, therefore, a larger scale—than one divided by a million.
7. They are essentially the same: a cloud less than 50 feet above the ground; but mist is indicated when surface visibility is equal to or greater than five-eighths of a mile. Fog is indicated when visibility is less than five-eighths of a mile.
8. (d) The Graf Zeppelin flew from Lakehurst, New Jersey, to Friedrichshaven, Germany, to Tokyo, to Los Angeles, and back to Lakehurst in August 1929. Post and Gatty made their flight in 1931, and Post did it solo in 1933. Kingsford-Smith completed his global flight in 1930, although he did it in stages over a two-year period.
9. (d) President Washington gave the letter to Jean-Pierre Blanchard, who carried it on the first balloon flight in America. This became a 46-mile journey from Philadelphia to Gloucester County, New Jersey (circa 1795).
10. (a) However, if an engine is equipped with a cartridge filter, oil should be changed every 50 hours or 4 months, whichever occurs first.
11. False. Small, propeller-driven bombing sirens were installed on the aircraft. These resembled wind-driven generators and were designed to terrify those on the ground.
12. False. Flight at L/D _MAX results in maximum range. Maximum endurance is achieved by using the minimum fuel flow (power setting) required to maintain altitude.
13. True. Braniff International Airways operated the Concorde on the Dallas-to-New York leg of a Dallas-to-Europe flight. This domestic leg was flown subsonically.
14. False. It is true that a pilot approaching a downhill runway tends to perceive his altitude as being lower than it really is (he tends to come in too high). A pilot approaching a runway over featureless terrain, however, tends to perceive his altitude as being higher than it really is (he tends to come in too low).

Contact the author at www.barryschiff.com.