Test Pilot

GENERAL

1. Cessna Aircraft used the prefix sky in naming many of its aircraft. Can you cite the seven names developed by Cessna that contain this prefix?
2. From reader Terry Lankford: What is a Kollsman window?
3. What is a penny plane?
4. To prevent engine corrosion caused by moisture in the oil, Shell Oil recommends flying an aircraft for a minimum of 30 minutes at least every two weeks. Because oil temperature typically stabilizes at only 180 degrees Fahrenheit, and the boiling point of water is 212 degrees, how does this get rid of moisture in the oil?
5. What is the lowest VHF frequency used by pilots?
6. Several models of Beech aircraft were given names relating to royalty or nobility (such as the Beech Duke and Duchess). What is or was the Beech Marquis?
7. What was America' s first supersonic fighter?
8. Why is it often difficult to hot start a fuel-injected engine?

MULTIPLE CHOICE

9. For multiengine pilots: With respect to the minimum controllable airspeed (V _MC) of a conventional twin with normally aspirated engines, which of the following does not belong?
   1. Density altitude increases
   2. Center of gravity moves forward
   3. Gross weight is reduced
   4. Propeller is feathered
10. From reader Roger Fleishman: The oldest currently used name of a U.S. airline is
    1. American Airlines.
    2. Northwest Airlines.
    3. TWA.
    4. United Airlines.
11. From reader Harry Bladow: A jet engine was first installed in and used to power an airplane in
    1. 1910.
    2. 1920.
    3. 1930.
    4. 1940.

TRUE OR FALSE

12. A pilot is operating his Piper Comanche on an FAR Part 91 (noncommercial) flight in instrument meteorological conditions. It is permissible for his child in the rear seat to listen to music from his portable CD player on a personal headset.
13. A scheduled airline flight has never landed on an aircraft carrier.
14. A pilot experiences total engine failure because of the simultaneous failure of both magnetos. The engine most likely is manufactured by Avco Lycoming.

ANSWERS

1. Skyhawk, Skyhook (a helicopter), Skyknight, Skylane, Skylark, Skymaster, and Skywagon.
2. It is the altimeter-setting window of a sensitive altimeter and was invented in 1928 by Paul Kollsman, a German-born aeronautical engineer, to correct the altimeter for nonstandard atmospheric pressure.
3. It is a rubber band-powered model airplane that weighs no more than a penny.
4. An oil temperature gauge does not indicate the hottest oil in the engine. The hottest oil temperature is roughly 50 degrees higher than indicated in normally aspirated engines and 75 degrees higher in turbocharged engines.
5. 75 MHz, the frequency of outer, middle, inner, and airway markers.
6. Beech Aircraft supplied a number of Model 95 Travel Air airframes to SFERMA in France. Each was equipped with Turbomeca Astazou turboprop engines and was called a Beech Marquis.
7. The North American F–100 Super Sabre first flew in 1953 and obviously marked the first of the Century-series fighters.
8. The most significant reason is that metal fuel lines adjacent to the heat-soaked engine become hot, and fuel in those lines boils (percolates), which often is heard after shutdown as hissing. The resulting bubbles of fuel vapor cause vapor lock.
9. (c) The other conditions result in a decrease in V _MC. Reducing gross weight increases V _MC and adversely affects engine-out controllability.
10. (b) Northwest Airways (Airlines) was founded in 1926. The TWA name originated in 1930 when Transcontinental Air Transport and Western Air Express merged to become Transcontinental and Western Air (TWA).
11. (a) Romanian Henri Coanda installed a rudimentary jet engine in a biplane that crashed during its first flight.
12. False. FAR 91.21 prohibits most portable electronic devices from being used during IFR flight unless the painstaking effort is made to determine that a given device does not interfere with navigation or communications equipment.
13. True. Can you imagine what the passengers would have thought?
14. True. Some Lycoming engines have a single shaft that drives both magnetos. Although extremely rare, a failure of this shaft is the most likely reason for both magnetos to fail simultaneously. Teledyne Continental and many Lycoming engines have a drive shaft for each magneto.

Visit the author's Web site ( www.barryschiff.com).