Test Pilot

GENERAL

1. It has been called the United States Air Force since 1947. How many of this organization's five previous names can you recall?
2. Why does an IVSI (instantaneous vertical speed indicator) lag less than a conventional VSI?
3. The Mooney Mark 20 was the first four-place airplane capable of cruising at more than 1 mph per horsepower. What was the first airplane to reach that threshold and cruise at 1 mph per horsepower?
4. From reader George Shanks: During World War II, naval aircraft designations ended with a letter. Examples include the U in F4U Corsair, the second F in F8F Bearcat, the J in SNJ Texan, the M in TBM Avenger, and the Y in PBY Catalina. What did these final letters represent?
5. From reader Jeff Van West: It takes the human eye as long as 30 minutes to adapt to darkness and acquire optimal night vision. How long does it take to readapt to light?
6. From reader David F. Shaw: A pilot flies a Cessna 180 (which does not have retractable landing gear) and correctly logs his flight time in this airplane as both high performance and complex. Explain why he is allowed to do this.
7. A taxiing pilot comes upon an "ILS critical area" as indicated by a set of lines across the taxiway that resembles a ladder. What is an ILS critical area?
8. What is the advantage of the relatively new scimitar-shape propeller blades?

MULTIPLE CHOICE

9. Which one of the following statements does not belong?
   1. He was on the cover of Time magazine.
   2. He was a lion tamer, and his pet lion, Gilmore, frequently flew as his "copilot."
   3. He designed an airplane eventually built by the Cessna Aircraft Company.
   4. He was the only pilot to win the Thompson Trophy Race three times.
   5. Although called a colonel, he was never in the military.
10. The first flying boat (not a floatplane) to be certified in the United States was built by
    1. Boeing.
    2. Lockheed.
    3. Loening.
    4. Sikorsky.
11. From reader Jeff Pardo: The world's most southerly paved runway is on or at
    1. Antarctica.
    2. Cape Town, South Africa.
    3. Christchurch, New Zealand.
    4. Punta Arenas, Chile.
    5. Ushuaia, Argentina.

TRUE OR FALSE

12. Pan American Airlines was first to operate an around-the-world airline flight.
13. Victor 16 is the longest Victor airway in the United States.
14. The first pilot to fly an airplane in the United Kingdom was Wild Bill Cody.

ANSWERS

1. The Aeronautical Section of the U.S. Army Signal Corps was formed in 1907, the Aviation Section of the U.S. Army Signal Corps in 1914, the U.S. Army Air Service in 1918, the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1926, and the U.S. Army Air Force in 1941.
2. An IVSI contains an accelerometer that causes the indicator to "instantaneously" respond to changes in G load. This gives the indicator a "head start" until changes in barometric pressure are used to fine-tune the indication.
3. The Cessna C-34 Airmaster, which first flew on August 10, 1934, had a 145-hp Warner Super Scarab radial engine and cruised at 145 mph, an incredibly efficient machine.
4. The suffixes represented the aircraft's manufacturer. U stood for Chance Vought, F for Grumman, J for North American, M for General Motors, Y for Consolidated, and so forth. It is uncertain why more logical designations were not used.
5. About 10 seconds, after which another 30 minutes might be needed to reacquire optimal night vision. If it is necessary to turn on a light in a dark cockpit, keep one eye closed or covered to maintain its night vision.
6. This particular Cessna 180 has flaps, a constant-speed propeller, and floats. Retractable landing gear is not required for a seaplane to be considered complex.
7. It is an area within which a taxiing aircraft can interfere with localizer and/or glideslope transmissions and create problems for pilots making ILS approaches (especially those making coupled approaches leading to automatic landings).
8. The blades sweep back just like the wings of most turbofan-powered airplanes. Sweepback "fools" such blades (and wings) into "believing" that they have less airspeed, which reduces the drag, noise, and inefficiency associated with transonic tip speeds.
9. (c) Showman, barnstormer, and record-setter Roscoe Turner sported a waxed moustache and a pseudo-military uniform. He had a hand in designing his race plane, but that was the extent of his engineering efforts.
10. (a) The Boeing B1D was powered by a Wright Whirlwind engine. Most of Boeing's early design efforts involved seaplanes.
11. (e) Ushuaia is the capital of the Province of Tierra del Fuego in Argentina. Although the numerous airports on Antarctica are farther south, none are paved. Those runways have surfaces consisting of gravel, sea ice, glacial ice, or compacted snow.
12. False. Qantas was first to offer globe-girdling service (1958).
13. True. V16 connects Los Angeles with Boston and is 2,588 nm long. The shortest is V4, which is only 4 miles long (the U.S. portion of the airway connecting Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, with Laredo, Texas).
14. False. Close, but no cigar. It was Samuel Cody, an American cowboy, Wild West performer, and aviation pioneer whose first flight in England (1908) achieved a distance of 1,390 feet.

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