Test Pilot

GENERAL

1. From reader Catherine Cavagnaro: The pilot's operating handbook for most light airplanes contains a rectangular operating envelope that enables a pilot to plot gross weight versus center of gravity to determine if a given combination of weight and CG is within allowable limits. Why is the upper-left corner usually missing from these rectangles?
2. From reader Steve Madorsky: How did at least one clever military pilot reportedly manage to hear his own sonic boom while flying a supersonic airplane?
3. What nation is responsible for controlling air traffic over the true North Pole?
4. From reader John Tiller: In what two states can a pilot still find low-frequency airways named after colors, and what did actress Greta Garbo have to do with them?
5. From reader Richard O'Donnell: What was the first airport to be called an airport?
6. What type of aircraft was responsible for sinking the most Japanese ships during World War II?
7. From reader Joseph Barber: Why does the Grumman G-111 Albatross, a twin-engine amphibian, have greater range when taking off from water with a full payload than when taking off from land?
8. From reader Bob Trimborn: Why were some jet pilots trained to wear an eye patch over one eye during certain operations?

MULTIPLE CHOICE

9. The first major league baseball team to travel by air was the
   1. Brooklyn Dodgers.
   2. Cleveland Indians.
   3. Cincinnati Reds.
   4. New York Yankees.
10. From reader Bob Canavan: There are two active cemeteries on
    1. Chicago O'Hare International Airport.
    2. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
    3. John F. Kennedy International Airport.
    4. Los Angeles International Airport.
11. The Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird flew so fast (Mach 3.0) that some exterior components got as hot as
    1. outside air temperature plus 300 degrees Fahrenheit.
    2. outside air temperature plus 400 degrees F.
    3. almost 500 degrees F.
    4. almost 600 degrees F.

TRUE OR FALSE

12. From reader Rick Ray: During World War II, Germany had an aircraft carrier — not an airship — called the Graf Zeppelin.
13. From reader Jeff Pardo: Airliners were grounded at Phoenix for several hours on June 26, 1990, when the reported airport temperature was 122 degrees F (in the shade). This was because the tarmac became too soft to support such heavy aircraft.
14. Luftwaffe pilots flight-tested V-1 rockets ("buzz bombs").

TEST PILOT ANSWERS

1. The upper-left corner represents combinations of high gross weight and forward center of gravity. Most lightplanes do not have sufficient elevator authority to flare for landing under such conditions.
2. He dove at an AM radio station that he had tuned on his automatic direction finder and heard the sonic boom through the disc jockey's microphone. (He undoubtedly also did a "rug dance" in his commanding officer's office.)
3. The area surrounding the North Pole is divided into four pie-shape slices. These slices outline portions of the Anchorage Arctic (United States), Edmonton (Canada), Murmansk (Russia), and Sondrestrom (Greenland) flight information regions. All merge to a common point at the pole.
4. Alaska and North Carolina. When airways crossed, rules determined who had right of way based on the color of the airway. The order of right of way was Green, Amber, Red, and Blue, and pilots remembered this using the mnemonic GARBO.
5. Atlantic City Municipal Airport (also known as Bader Field) is also one of the most recent to be closed.
6. The carrier-based Douglas SBD Dauntless dive bomber. It was preferred by pilots to its eventual and less successful replacement, the Curtiss SB2C Helldiver.
7. The Albatross has a greater allowable gross weight during a water takeoff than during a takeoff from land (don't ask). More weight means more fuel and greater range.
8. An eye patch would protect an eye from flash blindness following the detonation of a nuclear bomb and was standard equipment on Boeing B-47s and B-52s.
9. (c) The Reds flew from Cincinnati to Chicago on June 7, 1934, but six players opted to travel by train. In 1946 the Yankees became first to fly on a regular basis in a chartered United Airlines' Douglas DC-4, nicknamed Yankee Mainliner.
10. (a) St. Johannes/St. Johns and Rest Haven cemeteries were established in 1837 and 1840, respectively, and are the final resting places of more than 1,600 souls.
11. (d) This was the result of air compression and frictional effects. Pilots could heat their meals by holding the small packets against the windshield.
12. True. Germany built and launched the Graf Zeppelin, but it never became operational. A second carrier was planned but not built.
13. False. Airliners were grounded because their performance charts only went as high as 120 degrees.
14. True. A small crude cockpit was added to early V-1s that allowed test pilots — including famed aviatrix Hanna Reitsch — to troubleshoot adverse flight characteristics.