Test Pilot

GENERAL

1. From reader Glenn Alpert: How was milkweed used to save pilots and crewmembers during World War II?
2. While in the traffic pattern, you overhear a pilot "requesting the option." The controller tells this pilot that he is "cleared for the option." This means that the pilot may execute his choice of five maneuvers. What are they?
3. From reader Hal Fishman: What was so unusual about the first fighter aircraft used by the Israeli Air Force?
4. From reader Dick Siano: A pilot in flight overhears an air traffic controller communicating with "SafeAir One." What does this call sign signify?
5. What was the world's first turboprop airliner?
6. From reader Gerald Barrett: Name an airplane that was used in regular airline service that had engines manufactured by the same company that made the airplane.
7. From reader Bob Mills: Why is the control wheel of an airplane often referred to as a yoke or control yoke?
8. Why did British pilots during World War II strive to avoid an encounter with a "Chase-me-Charlie"?

MULTIPLE CHOICE

9. To what does the north pole of a magnetic compass point?
   1. The north magnetic pole
   2. The south magnetic pole
   3. The geographic South Pole
   4. None of the above
10. From reader Bill Murrell: The world's first man-carrying airplane powered by jet propulsion flew in
    1. October 1910.
    2. November 1920.
    3. December 1930.
    4. January 1940.
11. The first television station to broadcast live from a helicopter was
    1. KGO (San Francisco).
    2. KTLA (Los Angeles).
    3. KTRK (Houston).
    4. WNBC (New York).

TRUE OR FALSE

12. From reader Charles Mangold: Martin-Baker is the leading manufacturer of aircraft ejection seats. According to its records, more than 14,000 pilots and crewmembers have been saved by such seats.
13. From reader Franz Manfredi: The new Boeing 787 Dreamliner will have electric brakes, not hydraulic brakes.
14. A Learjet 20-series airplane with empty fuel tanks is sitting on a ramp. If one fuel tank is filled without adding any fuel to the other, the airplane will tip so far to the side that the full tank will either hit the ground or come very close to it.

TEST PILOT ANSWERS

1. More than 11 million pounds of hollow, air-filled milkweed floss was used to provide buoyancy and replace kapok in life jackets and life belts.
2. He may execute a touch-and-go landing, a missed approach, a low approach, a stop-and-go landing, or a full-stop landing.
3. In 1948 and 1949, the Israeli Air Force had 125 Avia S199 Mezeks, Czechoslovakian derivations of the Luftwaffe's Messerschmitt Me 109. It must have seemed strange to see the Star of David emblazoned on a German fighter.
4. The FAA administrator is aboard that aircraft. An aircraft is called "Transport One" when the secretary of transportation is aboard.
5. The British Vickers Viscount model 700 carried 48 to 53 passengers, cruised at 308 mph, and entered service with British European Airways in April 1953.
6. There might be others, but one is the Junkers Ju.86 used by Lufthansa Airlines in 1935. Its two Jumo 204 diesel engines also were made by Junkers in Germany. (Jumo stands for Junkers Motors.)
7. It is a holdover from when body yokes — you moved your body to operate the ailerons — were used on many old aircraft (such as the 1911 Curtiss Triad). These were called yokes because they reminded some of the frame or yoke by which draft animals (such as oxen) were joined for working together.
8. "Chase-me-Charlie" was British slang for a German remote-controlled glider with an explosive load and a rocket booster.
9. (d) Compass poles do not point to anything. The magnetized needle aligns with the local line of magnetic flux. If a compass actually pointed to a magnetic pole, isogonal lines on charts would conform to a regular geometric pattern instead of wandering the way they do.
10. (a) Romanian Henri Coanda's turbopropulseur had a four-cylinder, 1,000-rpm engine that drove a geared centrifugal air compressor at 4,000 rpm. Compressor and engine exhaust entered chambers where fuel was added and burned. The result was 450 pounds of thrust, more power than would have been available from the 50-horsepower engine and a propeller.
11. (b) Larry Scheer flew the Bell 47G-2 over the Los Angeles Coliseum during that first live telecast on July 4, 1958.
12. False. The number is nearly 8,000, which is still an impressive number of lives saved.
13. True. The Goodrich digital electric braking system will be lighter and more effective than hydraulic brakes.
14. True. The fueling procedure for these early Learjets calls for filling both tanks simultaneously or alternately adding no more than 125 gallons per side until fueling is complete.

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