Test Pilot

GENERAL

1. What are the only two frequencies specified in the Aeronautical Information Manual for use in air-to-air (pilot-to-pilot) communications?

2. What type of aircraft was used to make the first flight around the world in a seaplane? For extra credit, who was the pilot, and when did the flight occur?

3. When did the first pet fly in an airplane?

4. An encore question: A pilot encounters a direct headwind while flying from A to B, which are 25 miles apart. When over B, he releases a balloon that begins to drift back toward A. In the meantime, the pilot continues on his original heading for 15 minutes. He then reverses course and returns to A, arriving there at the same time as the balloon. Assuming that no time is required for the airplane to turn, what is the speed of the wind?

5. From reader Richard Wilsher: What type of an airplane would you be flying if you were to engage in “viffing”?

6.Why is a compass rose named after a rose?

7. From reader Richard Norris: A pilot makes a triangular flight of which each leg is exactly 150 nm long. The 090-degree leg (true direction) and the 210-degree leg each require 80 minutes, but the 330-degree leg requires one hour, 20 minutes. Explain what wind condition makes this possible.

8. Immediately before leaving the gate and immediately after arriving at the gate, airline passengers typically hear something like, “Flight attendants, cross check” over the public-address system. What does this mean?

TRUE OR FALSE

9. From reader John Schmidt: The intent of Operation Lusty during and after World War II was to locate the beautiful lady who served as the model for so much of the nose art found on American bombers.

10. From reader John Tiller: A safety pilot monitors flight conditions and status for a pilot flying under the hood in simulated instrument conditions. A pilot without a high-performance endorsement may serve as a safety pilot in a Beechcraft Bonanza.

11. From reader Charles Baumann: Most wing walkers use relatively slow biplanes and the like for their exhibitions, but daredevil Rick Rojatt took his act to a new level when he rode atop an airborne Douglas DC–8 jetliner.

MULTIPLE CHOICE

12. Who said, “There’s a big difference between a pilot and an aviator. One is a technician; the other is an artist in love with flight”?
a. Richard Bach
b. Ernest Gann
c. Elrey Jeppesen
d. Wolfgang Langewiesche

13. From reader Arnold Cohen: What World War II military airplane inspired design features of the 1948 Cadillac, the 1949 Buick, and the 1949 Oldsmobile?
a. Consolidated B–24 Liberator
b. Curtiss P–40 Warhawk
c. Lockheed P–38 Lightning
d. North American B–25 Mitchell

14. The northernmost piece of land on Earth is in
a. Canada.
b. Greenland.
c. Norway.
d. Russia.

1. 122.75 and 123.025 MHz.

2. Wolfgang Gronau made the globe-girdling flight in 1932 using a twin-engine Dornier Wal, a flying boat named Greenland.

3. It apparently was a pig in a basket secured to an airplane flown by Englishman John Moore-Brabazon in 1909, which gives lie to the adage that pigs don’t fly.

4. The airplane travels for 15 minutes away from the balloon. Because the airplane is moving in the same air mass as the balloon, it must also take 15 minutes to return to the balloon. The airplane, therefore, returns to the balloon over A in 30 minutes. During this time, the balloon has traveled 25 miles. The wind speed must be 50 mph.

5. An airplane capable of using nozzles or paddles to vector the exhaust thrust of its engine(s) while flying forward. VIFF stands for “vectoring in forward flight.”

6. Originally known as a wind rose, it denoted the directions of the “32 winds” (eight major winds, eight half-winds, and 16 quarter-winds). When drawn within a circle, the wind rose perfectly resembled a traditional 32-petal rose bloom.

7. Because each of the three legs requires exactly the same amount of time, the wind must be calm.

8. It is a reminder for each attendant to arm the inflatable evacuation slide at the door for which he or she is responsible. Each attendant then moves across the aisle to cross-check that the opposite slide has been properly armed. After arriving at the gate, the slides are similarly disarmed.

9. False. “Lusty” was an acronym derived from “Luftwaffe Secret Technology.” The operation involved bringing German aircraft, documents, and technology to the United States for analysis and study.

10. True. Although the FAA encourages safety pilots to be current and qualified in the aircraft being flown, they are required only to be rated in category and class. Safety pilots may log time as pilot in command only when qualified as pilot in command in the aircraft being flown. Otherwise, they may log the time as second in command.

11. True. Rojatt was called the “human fly” (after a comic-book character) and rode atop the jetliner, which was flown by famed Clay Lacy. Indicated airspeed typically was 175 knots but the fastest was a short sprint at 220 knots.

12. (c) Elrey Jeppesen also created the popular Jeppesen IFR avigation and approach charts.

13. (c) General Motors designers copied some of the P–38’s design features. Of the Buick’s “ventiports” (on the front fenders), the Cadillac’s tail fins, and the Oldsmobile’s “air intakes” (below the headlights), the fins lasted longest.

14. (b) The northern tip of Greenland’s Peary Land is only 375 nm from the True North Pole. The northern tip of Canada’s Ellesmere Island is almost as far north.

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