Test Pilot

GENERAL

1. During the opening scene of every episode of the 1977-to-1984 television series Fantasy Island the diminutive Tattoo (played by Hervé Villechaize) would spot an approaching aircraft and shout, "De plane! De plane!" What type of plane did he see?
2. Why is structural icing more likely to form on the horizontal stabilizer than on the wing of a given airplane?
3. Since the events of September 11, 2001, the FAA and the TSA (Transportation Security Administration) have imposed numerous flight restrictions. When prior to "9/11" was the concept of restricted airspace first developed and implemented?
4. Most pilots are aware of the possibility of bird strikes, but pilots also strike animals during takeoff and landing. What is the most commonly struck animal?
5. Other than representing the nationality of an airline and displaying an image of the national flag on the tail, why are international airlines also called flag carriers?
6. What is aeronautically significant about the German names Fritz, Ludwig, Siegfried, Ulrich, and Wilhelm?
7. Why were seaplanes so much more popular in the early days of aviation than they are now?
8. From reader Richard Bennett: The Beechcraft Model 33 is a straight-tail Bonanza, and the Model 35 is a V-tail Bonanza. What is or was the Beechcraft Model 34?

MULTIPLE CHOICE

9. The three words used to describe an airplane that creates the most hazardous wake turbulence are
   1. clean, slow, and heavy.
   2. dirty, slow, and heavy.
   3. clean, fast, and heavy.
   4. dirty, fast, and heavy.
10. The first pilot to complete a 360-degree turn in an airplane was
    1. Octave Chanute.
    2. Glenn Curtiss.
    3. Henry Farman.
    4. Wilbur Wright.
11. The first U.S. airline to employ stewardesses (now known as flight attendants) was
    1. American Airlines.
    2. Northwest Airlines.
    3. Trans World Airlines.
    4. United Airlines.

TRUE OR FALSE

12. Wilbur Wright died of typhoid in 1912, and Orville Wright died in 1948, not long after having been handed the controls of a Lockheed Constellation.
13. A propeller-driven airplane's rate of climb depends on the excess thrust available at any given airspeed. (Excess thrust is the thrust available beyond that required to maintain altitude at a given airspeed.)
14. From reader Mark Barchenko: A lightly loaded Boeing 777 can beat a 2003 Mercedes-Benz SL 500 in a drag race from zero to 60 mph.

ANSWERS

1. A Grumman Widgeon (N4453) built under license in France and modified with two seven-cylinder 300-horsepower Lycoming R-680 radial engines. U.S.-manufactured Widgeons had 200-hp, inverted in-line Ranger engines.
2. The leading-edge radius of a horizontal stabilizer is smaller than that of a wing (on a given airplane), and the smaller an object, the greater its propensity to accrue structural icing.
3. Air Defense Identification Zones (ADIZs), prohibited areas, and restricted areas were instituted in 1951 during the first full year of the Korean War.
4. Deer. From 1993 through 1995, there were 11 reported strikes.
5. Airliners literally flew the flags while taxiing. For example, when departing the United States, the American flag was flown from the right cockpit window and the flag of the destination country from the left. When returning, the U.S. flag was flown from starboard and the airline's company flag from port. Other rules applied when arriving at and departing from foreign airports.
6. They represented the letters F, L, S, U, and W in the German phonetic alphabet during World War II. Instead of Able, Baker, Charlie, etc., the Luftwaffe used Anton, Bruno, Casar, etc.
7. Airports were few and far between, but a pilot could almost always count on finding a body of water near his destination.
8. The Twin-Quad was a 20-seat, V-tail, high-wing cabin twin designed as a commuter carrier. Two Lycoming GSO-530 engines were submerged in each wing and drove a single propeller, giving the four-engine airplane the appearance of a twin. The sole prototype first flew in 1946.
9. (a) At any given speed and weight, an airplane generates more wake turbulence when the flaps are retracted than when extended.
10. (d) This was in 1904. Henry Farman was first to fly a full circle in Europe (January 1908) and also coined the word aileron to describe the control surfaces used in turning.
11. (d) Ellen Church, whose idea it was to add stewardesses to flight crews, and seven other nurses began to fly United Airlines' Chicago-to-San Francisco route on May 15, 1930.
12. True. Wilbur died at the age of 45 and Orville at the age of 76, the year after Chuck Yeager became the first to officially fly faster than the speed of sound.
13. False. Excess thrust determines angle of climb. Excess power determines an airplane's rate of climb at any given airspeed.
14. True. A lightly loaded Boeing 777 can accelerate from zero to 60 mph (52 knots) in less than 6 seconds. The Mercedes-Benz SL 500 requires 6.1 seconds.

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