Test Pilot

GENERAL

1. From reader Jerry Yochelson: How is it possible to perform eights around pylons in an airplane while flying over the United States and maintaining a constant heading throughout the maneuver?
2. What is a simple and reasonably accurate way to mentally calculate the bank angle required to fly a standard-rate (3 degree-per-second) turn in a typical light airplane?
3. Arrange the following types of flaps in the order in which they increase the lift of a wing: Fowler, simple (or plain), slotted, and split.
4. What specifically did pioneer aviators Richard E. Byrd, Clarence Chamberlin, François Coli, Noel Davis, René Fonck, Charles Nungesser, and Stanton Wooster have in common?
5. Military pilots use colorful "slanguage" such as the terms no joy (traffic not in sight) and tally ho (traffic in sight). What do the following military expressions mean: Bitchin Betty; feet wet; holding hands; parrot; and Popeye?
6. The North American Super Sabre was the world's first jet fighter capable of supersonic speed in level flight. Why was it called the Hun?
7. A pilot is preparing to land and discovers that the flaps will not deploy. How should he determine the new and higher approach speed to use?

MULTIPLE CHOICE

8. From reader Jeff Pardo: At low altitudes, the typical lightplane can outclimb the slope of
   1. a cold-front surface.
   2. a warm-front surface.
   3. both a cold-front and a warm-front surface.
   4. neither a cold-front nor a warm-front surface.
9. From reader Tony Bill: A pilot won an incredible $5,000 prize from the Baltimore Sun in 1910 by undertaking a flight that dispelled the popular belief that it was dangerous for a pilot to
   1. fly at night.
   2. fly in rain.
   3. fly inverted.
   4. fly over a city.
10. From reader Dwane Koppler: Which of the following was developed specifically for aviation?
    1. ballpoint pen
    2. paper clip
    3. tie tack
    4. wristwatch
11. The primary purpose of winglets is to
    1. reduce drag.
    2. increase lift.
    3. increase thrust.
    4. reduce weight.

TRUE OR FALSE

12. From reader Michael Davis: The shortest runway at a commercially served, hard-surface airport with only one runway is less than 1,000 feet long (not including heliports).
13. When a pilot or a mechanic says that an engine is "ticking over," he means only that the engine is idling.
14. Orville Wright was the pilot of the airplane involved in the first fatal airplane accident.

TEST PILOT ANSWERS

1. The pilot needs to fly in a wind that is stronger than the airplane's stall speed and weaker than its cruising speed. The airplane flies forward in the circle at a high airspeed and backward at a low airspeed. Lateral movement in the circle (with respect to the wind direction) is accomplished by slipping left and right as necessary. (Very clever, Jerry.)
2. The bank angle = 10 percent of the true airspeed (or IAS at low altitudes) in knots + 7. (Add only 5 if airspeed is in mph.)
3. The maximum lift increases of Fowler, slotted, split, and simple (flaps) are 90, 65, 60, and 50 percent, respectively. Double- and triple-slotted Fowler flaps more than double wing lift.
4. They were Charles Lindbergh's competitors, aviators seeking to be first to fly an airplane nonstop between New York and Paris (in either direction) in pursuit of the $25,000 prize offered by Raymond Orteig.
5. Electronic female voice used to warn of potential problems; flying over water; flying in formation; transponder; and flying in clouds or reduced visibility.
6. The F-100 Super Sabre was the first Century-series fighter, and Hun was short for hundred.
7. The normal (flaps-down) approach speed typically is not more than 1.3 times V _SO (the bottom of the white arc). With the flaps retracted, use 1.3 times the flaps-up stall speed (bottom of the green arc).
8. (c) The climb angle at 80 kt and 500 fpm is 376 feet per nm. Cold and warm fronts have slopes of roughly 1:100 and 1:200, respectively, which equates to only 61 and 30 feet per nm, respectively. This does not mean, however, that a lightplane can outclimb the weather associated with such fronts.
9. (d) On November 7, 1910, a Frenchman, Robert Latham, flew over Baltimore, Maryland, for almost an hour and dispelled the notion that heated air currents from the streets would cause disaster.
10. (d) Pioneer aviator Alberto Santos-Dumont complained to his friend, Louis Cartier, about how difficult it was to check his pocket watch during an air race and still control the airplane. Voilà! Cartier invented the wristwatch for his friend.
11. (a) Winglets have the effect of increasing wingspan, which increases the wing's aspect ratio and reduces induced drag. There also is a slight increase in aerodynamic thrust.
12. False. The world's shortest such runway is at the Juancho Yrausquin Airport on the Caribbean island of Saba (just south of St. Maarten). It is 1,312 feet long, has 130-foot cliffs dropping off into the sea at both ends, and is regularly served by Windward International Airways using de Havilland Twin Otters.
13. False. An engine is ticking over when it is turning so slowly that the exhaust from each cylinder can be heard separately and distinctly. "Tick-tick-tick-tick."
14. True. The first "fatal" occurred on September 17, 1908, in a Wright biplane. Although Orville survived the crash, his passenger, Army Lt. Thomas Selfridge, did not.

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