Test Pilot

GENERAL

1. What large aircraft was considered so slow that its pilots used to say that the navigator needed a calendar more than a chronograph?
2. Normal-, Utility-, and Aerobatic-category aircraft are stressed for 3.8, 4.4, and 6 Gs, respectively. What is the maximum-allowable load factor for transport-category jetliners?
3. Where is the world's tallest control tower?
4. Many airplanes are equipped with electrical inverters. What is the purpose of an inverter?
5. A pilot on a cross-country flight looks down and sees the world's tallest waterfall. Where is he?
6. Many multiengine airplanes are equipped with ice-protection plates. Where are they installed and what is their specific purpose?
7. From reader Hal Fishman: What did aircraft designers and manufacturers Larry Bell, Donald Douglas, and James McDonnell have in common?
8. What was the only American-built airplane to see action in World War I?

MULTIPLE CHOICE

9. Flutter can destroy an airplane and is a function of
   1. calibrated airspeed.
   2. equivalent airspeed.
   3. indicated airspeed.
   4. true airspeed.
10. Which of the following does not belong?
    1. Emu
    2. Gooney
    3. Kiwi
    4. Ostrich
    5. Penguin
11. With respect to pilot qualifications, which of the following does not belong?
    1. Controllable-pitch propeller
    2. Flaps
    3. Engine with more than 200 hp
    4. Retractable landing gear

TRUE OR FALSE

12. The simple square (or reef) knot is one of the best to use when tying down an airplane with rope.
13. The globe-girdling Rutan Voyager and the Spirit of St. Louis had at least one thing in common. Neither had brakes.
14. From reader Jeff Pardo: Two space shuttles are orbiting the Earth at the same speed and altitude. One, however, is a thousand miles behind the other. For the laggard to catch up with the leader, he should add thrust in the direction of travel.

TEST PILOT ANSWERS

1. The Consolidated PBY-5A Catalina. It cruises at little more than 100 knots and routinely took a day to fly from California to Hawaii during World War II.
2. 2.5 Gs. Lightplanes are stressed for more Gs because they have low wing loadings, which makes it relatively easy for vertical gusts to accelerate them, creating Gs. Jetliners have much higher wing loadings, which makes them less susceptible to gusts.
3. The tower at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, which is 433 feet tall. Not to be outdone, Thailand is building one at Bangkok's new international airport that will be a few feet taller.
4. An inverter converts direct current (DC) into alternating current (AC) for those appliances requiring AC electrical power.
5. He is over Angel Falls in southeast Venezuela. The falls were discovered by bush pilot Jimmy Angel in 1935 and are so tall (approximately 3,300 feet) that the water evaporates before hitting the bottom.
6. These armor panels protect those portions of the sides of the fuselage abeam the propeller tips from damage caused by chunks of ice flung from the propellers.
7. All got their start by working for designer and manufacturer Glenn L. Martin.
8. Curtiss Flying Boats. Twenty of these aircraft were modified or built by the British and used for submarine patrol and to bomb surfaced U-boats.
9. (d) This is why the maximum-allowable indicated airspeed of some airplanes is reduced at high altitude. The idea is to prevent the possibility of flutter by limiting true airspeed.
10. (b) The others are flightless birds. The Gooney Bird (Laysan Albatross) is such an efficient flier that it can soar with stilled wings on a windless day in air pushed up by the horizontal movement of ocean waves.
11. (c) The other three features define a complex airplane. An airplane with an engine of more than 200 hp (with or without the other features) is considered by the FAA to be a high-performance airplane.
12. False. The square knot can come loose with a bit of shaking and is more suitable for tying shoelaces and the like. The bowline is the preferred knot for tying down.
13. True. Voyager was designed to take off from and land at Edwards Air Force Base, which has such long runways that brakes were not needed and would have added unnecessary weight. Lindbergh's plane had a tail skid.
14. False. By adding thrust in the direction of travel, the shuttle enters a higher orbit and slows down with respect to the Earth. To go faster, added thrust must be against the direction of movement, thus causing a lower orbit and increased groundspeed.

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