Test Pilot

GENERAL

1. What is meant by "an airplane on a stick"?
2. Has there ever been a biplane produced in the United States with retractable landing gear?
3. The Rotax aircraft engine is becoming increasingly popular with homebuilders and manufacturers of motorgliders and light sport aircraft (LSA). How did Rotax get its name?
4. When the German ace Baron von Richtofen flew behind a Sopwith Camel during World War I and noticed it beginning to pitch sharply nose up, why would he immediately begin shooting to the right of the Camel? (The answer is unrelated to p-factor.)
5. From reader Mark Barchenko: During the early days of jet fighters, American pilots wore G-suits to prevent blackout during high-G maneuvering. What did Russian pilots do?
6. From reader Brian Schiff: For those who fly to or over the Arctic, how did this region get its name?
7. In terms of registered and certificated homebuilt airplanes, what is the most popular homebuilt airplane in the United States?
8. What seaplane base has so many operations that a control tower is used to manage them?

MIX 'N MATCH

9. Match the following actors with the classic aviation movies in which they portrayed pilots.

   1. Battle of Britain	a. Alan Arkin
   2. The Bridges at Toko-Ri	b. Michael Caine
   3. Catch-22	c. Errol Flynn
   4. Dawn Patrol	d. William Holden
   5. Flying Leathernecks	e. Gregory Peck
   6. The Great Waldo Pepper	f. Robert Redford
   7. The Right Stuff	g. Sam Shepard
   8. Strategic Air Command	h. James Stewart
   9. Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo	i. Spencer Tracy
   10. Twelve O'clock High	j. John Wayne

MULTIPLE CHOICE

10. The highest wind speed ever recorded during a hurricane making landfall was
    1. 180 mph with gusts to 190 mph.
    2. 190 mph with gusts to 200 mph.
    3. 200 mph with gusts to 210 mph.
    4. 210 mph with gusts to 220 mph.
11. "I fly because it releases my mind from the tyranny of petty things." This was written by
    1. Richard Bach.
    2. Ernest Gann.
    3. Elrey Jeppesen.
    4. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.

TRUE OR FALSE

12. The Boeing 727 has two sets of ailerons. One set is used only during high-speed flight, and both sets are used during low-speed flight.
13. Production Ercoupes did not have a rudder (or rudders).
14. From reader George Shanks: The famed World War I trainer, the Curtiss JN-4 Jenny, was designated "JN" because these were the initials of its designer, a custom of that era.

ANSWERS

1. It is an airplane permanently mounted on a structure resembling a stick, a display commonly seen at museums and air bases.
2. There might have been others, but the Beech Model 17 Staggerwing, a taildragger, probably was the most popular.
3. Rotax comes from "rotating axles," which is what the company produced for bicycles when founded in Dresden, Germany, in 1920. Today we just call them "axles." Since 1982, Rotax has produced more than 100,000 two- and four-cycle aircraft engines.
4. The Camel has a rotary engine that turns clockwise when viewed from behind. Pulling the nose up causes gyroscopic precession to yaw the airplane strongly to the right and into the path of fire.
5. Nothing. They momentarily blacked out during high-G maneuvers and recovered seconds later.
6. Arktikos (ancient Greek) means "bear country," an area above which is the constellation Ursa Major, the Great Bear (aka the Big Dipper). This bear (as well as polar bears) cannot be seen from (or at) the bottom of the world, hence, Antiarktikos (Antarctica).
7. Van's RV aircraft are by far the most popular. A recent check of the FAA's aircraft registry reveals 3,248 certificated RVs. Runner-up is the Kitfox (938 airplanes).
8. Lake Hood Seaplane Base, which has more than 400 seaplane slips, had its own control tower until 1977. Traffic there is now controlled by the tower at adjacent Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport.
9. 1b, 2d, 3a, 4c, 5j, 6f, 7g, 8h, 9i, and 10e.
10. (c) This occurred when Hurricane Camille made landfall along the Alabama and Mississippi coasts on August 17 and 18, 1969.
11. (d) The French pilot and famed author also wrote Wind, Sand and Stars; The Little Prince; Night Flight; and Flight to Arras.
12. True. The outboard ailerons are locked out (inoperative) when wing flaps are retracted; the inboard ailerons are operative at all times.
13. False. Unmodified production Ercoupes have rudders (two per airplane) but not independent rudder control. The rudders are interconnected with the ailerons and operate through the control wheel.
14. False. The JN-4 was so called because it combined features of the Curtiss models J and N.

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