Test Pilot

GENERAL

1. During the late 1950s and early 1960s, many airplane owners used a bright orange paint to increase aircraft conspicuity and reduce the potential for a midair collision. What was the name of that paint?
2. Who is or was America's most successful fighter ace (in terms of the number of enemy aircraft shot down), and what type of aircraft did he fly?
3. When a pilot dies, it is said that he has "flown west." What is the origin of this well-known expression?
4. What is a 36-second check?
5. From reader Mark Barchenko: What are lift-dump flaps?
6. From reader Hal Fishman: What was the world's first supersonic bomber?
7. One well-known airframe manufacturer is named after a nearby mountain and another after a nearby city. What are the names of these manufacturers?
8. William T. Piper followed Henry Ford's lead by saying, "You can buy any color J-3 Cub you'd like, as long as it's yellow." Why did he choose yellow?

MULTIPLE CHOICE

9. From reader Bill Rimer: If a Continental or Lycoming piston engine turning a constant-speed propeller loses oil pressure, a feathering propeller will automatically go into _____ and a nonfeathering propeller will go into _____.
   1. feather, low rpm
   2. feather, high rpm
   3. high rpm, low rpm
   4. high rpm, high rpm
10. Commercial jetliners get zapped by lightning during flight about once every _____ flight hours, or about once every _____.
    1. 2,000, six months
    2. 4,000, 12 months
    3. 8,000, two years
    4. 16,000, four years
11. Arrange the following events in the sequence in which they actually occurred.
    1. First flight, Boeing 747
    2. First flight, Anglo-French Concorde SST
    3. First flight, Russian Tupolev Tu-144 SST
    4. First man on the moon, Neil Armstrong

TRUE OR FALSE

12. Then-lieutenant James "Jimmy" Doolittle was first to make a solo blind landing.
13. From reader Grant Fields: A pilot on final approach crabs into a crosswind so that his track is exactly aligned with the extended runway centerline. The airplane is no longer drifting.
14. From Reader Richard G. Somers: A pilot is using his earphones to listen to a weather broadcast on a VOR frequency. "Phones" is selected on the audio panel. Using the same nav/com he simultaneously transmits to air traffic control. He will not hear the weather broadcast for as long as the push-to-talk switch is depressed.

ANSWERS

1. Day-Glo Orange is made by Day-Glo Color Corporation, a manufacturer of daylight fluorescent pigments (also called neon colors).
2. Maj. Richard I. Bong scored 40 kills during World War II flying a Lockheed P-38 Lightning in the Pacific war against Japan.
3. It was written in a letter to fellow pilots by dying Capt. Brooke Hyde-Pearson of the United States Air Mail Service. The letter began with, "I go west, but with cheerful heart," and ended with, "See you all again."
4. A pilot without a groundspeed indicator can observe his DME to determine the change in distance (to or from a vortac station) in 36 seconds. This distance is multiplied by 100 for a quick-and-dirty groundspeed check.
5. These are flaps that can be extended (after landing) to more than 60 degrees. This causes separation of airflow above the wing, reduced lift, improved braking, and, of course, added drag.
6. Convair's B-58 Hustler entered service in 1960, had a three-man crew that sat in tandem (one behind the other behind the other), and flew faster than Mach 2.0 at 60,000 feet.
7. You can climb Mount Pilatus (Pilatus Aircraft), a 7,000-foot-high mountain near Lucerne, Switzerland, on the world's steepest cog train (48-percent gradient). Zlin (Zlin Aircraft) is the capital of the Zlin Region of the Czech Republic.
8. He believed it to be the most conspicuous color. This would help to avoid midair collisions and serve as a marketing tool by making the low-flying Cubs easier to identify from the ground.
9. (b) The high rpm of a nonfeathering propeller resulting from a loss of oil pressure can result in sudden engine seizure and possible snapping of the crankshaft. Reduce rpm by retarding the throttle and slow to best-glide speed before it's too late.
10. (b) The last U.S. jetliner downed by lightning was a Pan American Airlines' Boeing 707 over Maryland in 1963.
11. (c) was first on December 31, 1968; (a) was second on February 9, 1969; (b) was third on March 2, 1969; (d) was fourth on July 20, 1969.
12. False. Doolittle carried a safety pilot during his blind landing on September 24, 1929, in a Consolidated NY-2. The first to make a solo blind landing was U.S. Army Air Corps Capt. A.F. Hegenberger on May 9, 1932 (also in an NY-2).
13. False. When a pilot crabs into a crosswind to maintain a desired course, he is allowing his aircraft to drift along the desired course. An airplane is always drifting when under the influence of a crosswind.
14. False. The pilot hears whatever is transmitted on the VOR frequency while transmitting. However, if the speaker is used, audio from the speaker is disabled for as long as the push-to-talk switch is depressed (to prevent feedback).

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