Test Pilot

GENERAL

1. A fire truck pulls alongside and in front of a taxiing airplane that has just made an emergency landing. A firefighter steps off the truck and makes a beckoning movement with his left hand and arm. What should the pilot do?
2. An airplane with a groundspeed of 238 knots passes over Point A at 1315 UTC while en route to Point B, which is 700 nm distant. At the same time, an aircraft with a groundspeed of 162 kt passes over Point B en route to Point A. At what time will the aircraft pass one another? (A computer is not required.)
3. What is equivalent airspeed?
4. A pilot might say that he is in the doldrums when feeling sluggish, gloomy, or in a low-energy state in which something fails to develop or improve. What is the meteorological source of this expression?
5. What are the two primary disadvantages of using a venturi tube to provide vacuum to gyroscopic instruments?
6. From reader Christopher Kosseff: Direction of movement is typically expressed in the direction toward which an object is moving. For example, "The airplane is tracking west." Why is wind direction an exception and reported in the direction from which it is blowing?
7. How did parrots play a role in aerial warfare during World War I?
8. Under what conditions is a localizer displayed on a sectional aeronautical chart?

MULTIPLE CHOICE

9. A pilot is about to ditch an airplane under no-wind conditions on the surface of an ocean with a well-developed swell system. Arrange the following ditching procedures in order of preference (most desirable first and least desirable last).
   1. Land parallel to and on the crest of a swell
   2. Land parallel to and between swells
   3. Land parallel to and on the face of a swell
   4. Land perpendicular to and into the face of a swell
10. With respect to Wiley Post's Lockheed Vega, Winnie Mae, which of the following is not correct?
    1. Post had two Lockheed Vegas named Winnie Mae.
    2. Post and Will Rogers were killed in Winnie Mae during a takeoff near Point Barrow, Alaska.
    3. Winnie Mae was the first airplane to fly twice around the world.
    4. Winnie Mae had an absolute ceiling of 55,000 feet.
11. A pilot at a given altitude is about to cross an occluded front. The outside air temperature is relatively cold, soon becomes relatively warm, and then becomes relatively cool. He has encountered a _______ occlusion and is flying in the _______. (There are two correct answers.)
    1. cold front, same direction as the occlusion
    2. cold front, opposite to the direction of the occlusion
    3. warm front, same direction as the occlusion
    4. warm front, opposite to the direction of the occlusion

TRUE OR FALSE

12. During World War II Germany used V-1 buzz bombs and V-2 rockets to bombard cities in England. The V stood for the German word for victory.
13. The African eagle can swoop at more than 100 mph and aerodynamically brake to a halt in only 20 feet.
14. Many early aircraft had rotary engines. The crankshaft was fixed to the airframe, and the propeller was fixed to the crankcase. In this way, the engine and propeller spun together. This engine was developed so that engine rotation would create a relative wind to cool itself.

ANSWERS

1. This signal means that aircraft evacuation is recommended, probably because the firefighter detects a hazardous condition. This and other important firefighting and rescue instructions for pilots are now shown in Chapter 6, Section 5, of the Aeronautical Information Manual.
2. 1500 UTC. The aircraft have a closure rate of 400 kt, and the distance between them (700 nm) will require 1 hour, 45 minutes.
3. Airspeed indicators of high-speed aircraft are affected by air compression in the pitot system that causes erroneously high airspeed indications. Equivalent airspeed is the result of using a computer or calculator to correct calibrated airspeed for the effect of compression.
4. The doldrums are equatorial areas between the trades of the Northern and Southern hemispheres where the wind is either light and variable or calm, conditions that caused problems for commercial sailing vessels.
5. A venturi tube cannot create sufficient vacuum to operate the gyroscopic instruments until after reaching takeoff speed, and it is prone to blockage by structural icing.
6. This convention was established before manned flight because wind source (the direction from which the wind blows) helps to describe its characteristics (cold or warm, humid or dry) and assists in weather forecasting.
7. Because of their acute hearing, parrots positioned on the Eiffel Tower warned of approaching aircraft long before the planes were heard or seen by ground observers.
8. A localizer is displayed when it is a component of an airway.
9. The choices are shown in order of preference: (a), (b), (c), and (d), which the U.S. Coast Guard describes as best, good, fair, and poor, respectively.
10. (b). The tragedy occurred in a Lockheed Sirius floatplane. Incidentally, for high-altitude flights, Winnie Mae was modified with jettisonable landing gear and a metal belly skid for landing.
11. (a) and (d). In cases (b) and (c), the pilot would encounter cool, warm, and cold temperatures, in that order.
12. False. The V stood for Vergeltungswaffen, which means revenge (or vengeance) weapons. The V-2 was a forerunner of the long-range ballistic missile, and its primary purpose was to terrify civilians.
13. True. Imagine the deceleration required to land an airplane at more than 100 mph and brake to a halt in only 20 feet, an arrest requiring less than a third of a second.
14. True. Rotary engines were developed because early radial engines could not develop the power needed to move an airplane fast enough to generate sufficient airflow for engine cooling. Rotary engines were used until the end of World War I.

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