Test Pilot

GENERAL

1. How fast can a fly fly?
2. The world's largest and longest formation flight was nine airplanes wide and 200 miles long. What was the purpose of this massive flight?
3. Aircraft A and aircraft B are flying across the United States, from coast to coast, along a 2,700-nm airway and in opposite directions. Airplane A is eastbound at a groundspeed of 60 knots and airplane B is westbound at 120 knots. Which aircraft will be closer to the West Coast when they pass?
4. From reader Mark Barchenko: Until 1985, all airline flights across the Atlantic and Pacific oceans were made by three- and four-engine airplanes. Most such flights are now made by twins. What was the first airline and first airliner approved to make such passenger-carrying flights?
5. What type of airplane did the U.S. Navy's Blue Angels use during its earliest flight demonstrations?
6. What does the Navy's Douglas A-4 attack aircraft have in common with the Cessna 172?
7. What turboprop airplane was marketed by Mooney Aircraft, and why was the name of this airplane an unusual coincidence?
8. Why was Larry Walters, a North Hollywood truck driver, fined $1,500 by the FAA for a flight made on July 2, 1982?

MIX 'N MATCH

9. From reader Paul Reinman: Match the following anti-icing/deicing methods with the appropriate airplanes.

   1. Boeing B-52 Stratofortress	a. bleed air
   2. Cirrus SR22	b. electrothermal
   3. Columbia 400	c. Janitrol combustion heater
   4. Douglas C-124 Globemaster	d. pneumatic boots
   5. Douglas DC-9	e. TKS "weeping wings"
   6. Embraer EMB120 Brasilia	f. wing flex

TRUE OR FALSE

10. From reader David Shaw: The application of carburetor heat can result in the formation of carburetor ice.
11. 1010 was the first year in which a man flew for some distance with the aid of wings.
12. From reader Chip Davis: The first aircraft to land on the 14,110-foot summit of Pikes Peak in Colorado was not a helicopter.

MULTIPLE CHOICE

13. From reader Walt Davie: Without looking, how many punched holes are there along the side of a Jeppesen instrument approach chart?
    1. 6
    2. 7
    3. 8
    4. 9
14. Who said, "The aeroplane has made war so terrible that I do not believe any country will again care to start a war"?
    1. Thomas Edison
    2. Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker
    3. President Woodrow Wilson
    4. Orville Wright

TEST PILOT ANSWERS

1. According to April Holladay, who writes science material for USA Today, a tabanid fly (such as a deer or horse fly) has been clocked at 90 mph (78 knots).
2. American and British airborne troops were being carried across the English Channel on June 6, 1944, (D-Day) at the beginning of the Allied invasion of Europe.
3. When the aircraft pass, they will both be the same distance from the West Coast.
4. TWA began these "ETOPS" flights in May 1985 using a Boeing 767 between St. Louis and Frankfurt, Germany. ETOPS are "extended twin-engine operations" (more than one hour from land) and colloquially known as "engines turn or people swim."
5. The Grumman F6F Hellcat. The team next used the Grumman F8F Bearcat and then the Grumman F9F-2 Panther, the Blue Angels' first jet.
6. Both are Skyhawks.
7. The Mitsubishi MU-2, which means "Mitsubishi Utility, Model 2." The number 2 in Japanese is pronounced ni. MUH-ni. Get it?
8. Hoping to fly to the Rockies, he attached 42 large helium-filled balloons to an aluminum lawn chair and shot up to 16,000 feet over the Los Angeles Basin. The uncertificated pilot got cold, used a BB gun to burst a few balloons, descended, and landed uninjured in a residential neighborhood.
9. 1 (f); 2 (e); 3 (b); 4 (c); 5 (a); 6 (d).
10. True. In extreme cold, applying carburetor heat can raise induction-air temperature to just above freezing. As the air passes through the carburetor, its temperature drops into the freezing range. The risk of ice is small, though, because such cold air contains so little moisture.
11. True. History claims that Oliver of Malmesbury, a Benedictine monk, jumped from Malmesbury Abbey and "alighted 125 paces before falling and breaking his legs."
12. False. The two-place, piston-powered Cessna CH-1 Skyhook helicopter landed there on September 13, 1955.
13. (b) The holes are not evenly spaced as are the rings in conventional binders.
14. (d) Wright said this to a friend in November 1918 as the Great War was ending.

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