Test Pilot

GENERAL

1. What is an aerial train?
2. The most common configuration for a twin-engine business jet is for an engine to be mounted on each side of the rear fuselage. What was the first twin-engine turbine airplane to be so configured?
3. What is it called when a) ice becomes water vapor without becoming water in the process, and b) water vapor becomes ice without becoming water in the process?
4. From reader Brent Varner: What military aircraft was nicknamed "the missile with a man in it" and as a prototype incorporated an ejection seat that shot the pilot out the bottom of the cockpit?
5. Reader Bob Carlton recently observed a Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey in flight and noticed that it might be the only aircraft to share a peculiar but significant feature with the Lockheed P-38 Lightning. What is that feature?
6. What is the world's fastest turboprop airplane?
7. From reader Bruce Curtis: Most pilots are familiar with a Cessna 310. The Model 320 Skyknight is a turbocharged variant of the "tuna-tank" 310. But what is a Cessna 318? (Hint: Cessna built more than 1,000 of them.)
8. From reader Ed Brown: Why did some early pilots with normal vision in both eyes occasionally wear eye patches similar to those worn by swashbuckling pirates?

TRUE OR FALSE

9. A pilot is building cross-country flight time to obtain a private pilot or higher-grade certificate. Such X-C flights must include landing at a point that is a straight-line distance of more than 50 nm from the original departure airport.
10. From reader Stephen Rosenbaum: Supersonic airplanes generate three sonic booms.
11. A major U.S. airline obtained a limited type certificate for a Boeing B-29 Superfortress in 1946 so that the bomber could be used to carry passengers.

MULTIPLE CHOICE

12. From reader Mark Barchenko: Early turbojet engines (pure jets) were eventually replaced with bypass or fanjet engines. The first company to manufacture a turbofan engine that went into service was
    1. CFM International.
    2. General Electric.
    3. Pratt & Whitney.
    4. Rolls-Royce.
13. From reader Brian Schiff: A pilot is cruising at a true airspeed of 200 knots on a track of 360 degrees while crabbing into a strong westerly wind. If he was to reduce airspeed and wanted to maintain the same track, he would need to _______ the crab angle, and this would result in a (an) _______ of the headwind component.
    1. decrease, decrease
    2. decrease, increase
    3. increase, decrease
    4. increase, increase
14. From reader George Shanks: The world's first radio-equipped air traffic control tower began operation in 1930 and served
    1. Cleveland, Ohio.
    2. Indianapolis, Indiana.
    3. Newark, New Jersey.
    4. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

TEST PILOT ANSWERS

1. It is a single airplane towing two or more gliders.
2. The French SUD SE-210 Caravelle jetliner pioneered the use of rear-mount engines and first flew in May 1955.
3. Sublimation and deposition.
4. The Lockheed F-104 Starfighter, which was designed by Clarence "Kelly" Johnson of Lockheed's famed Skunk Works.
5. The tops of the propeller discs rotate outward (away from the fuselage). Twins with counterrotating propellers usually rotate inward to reduce the effect of p-factor created by the operating engine if and when the other fails.
6. The world speed record of 473.65 knots (544.70 mph) is held by a Tupolev Tu-114 Russiya. It is the world's largest propeller-driven airliner (220 passengers) and a civilian derivative of the swept-wing Tu-95 Bear, a strategic bomber.
7. The model 318, better known as the Air Force T-37 Dragonfly, was Cessna's first jet. It is affectionately called "Tweety" because of the shrill sound of its twin turbojet engines.
8. When flying at night over brightly lit cities, the pilot would look out with one eye while protecting the other with a patch. When returning his attention to the dimly lit cockpit, he would remove the patch and use the eye accustomed to darkness to read unlit instruments and charts.
9. False. When logging cross-country flight time for an airline transport pilot certificate, a landing is not required at a point more than 50 nm from the departure point. Refer to Federal Aviation Regulation 61.1(b).
10. False. Supersonic airplanes (including the space shuttle) generate two sonic booms a split second apart, one by the nose and the other by the tail.
11. False. TWA did, however, obtain such a certificate for a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress (NL1B) that was used for executive transportation and eventually given to the Shah of Iran.
12. (d) Rolls-Royce Conway, so called because it was near the River Conwy (sic) in Wales, produced the first bypass engines, and these were used on the Boeing 707-420, Douglas DC-8-40, and Vickers VC-10.
13. (d) To maintain a given track with a given crosswind, crab angle must be increased as airspeed is reduced. Turning into a crosswind reduces groundspeed.
14. (a) The tower was invented by Clevelander Claude King. There were 20 in operation by 1935.

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