Test Pilot

GENERAL

1.  From reader Tony Bill: Several years before his solo flight to Paris in 1927, Charles Lindbergh worked for Mil-Hi Airways. His business card read, “We Specialize in Fair and Carnival Exhibition Work: Plane Change in Midair, Wing Walking, Parachute Jumping, Breakaways, Night Fireworks, Smoke Trails, and Deaf Flights.” What is a deaf flight?

2.  From reader Dan Stroud: Because so few Rockwell B–1B Lancers (Bones) were built, most had their own special nicknames. Why was one such aircraft known by Rockwell as “The Love Boat”?

3.  From reader John Schmidt: Why would a pilot not want to use Homey Airport (KXTA) as a destination or en route waypoint?

4.  Bouncing bombs were developed by the British during World War II. What were they, and how were they used?

5.  The 1908 Curtiss June Bug incorporated “swiveling wingtips” (ailerons) for controlling roll. The Wright brothers sued Curtiss, claiming that this violated their 1906 patent for controlling roll with movable wing surfaces (warped wings). Who eventually won this famous and contentious lawsuit?

6.  What is so unusual about the single-runway airport at Gibraltar on the southern tip of Spain?

7.  Cessna, for example, assigns names to its aircraft such as Skyhawk, Skylane, et cetera. What names did Douglas Aircraft assign to its three four-engine, piston-powered airplanes, the DC–4, the DC–6, and the DC–7?

8.  From reader Harvey Hartman: Why is the radar pod (antenna) usually located under the right wing of a single-engine airplane instead of under the left wing?

MULTIPLE CHOICE

9.  From reader John Lawton: A normally aspirated piston engine operating at constant rpm and manifold pressure develops _____ power and consumes _____ fuel per hour at altitude than at sea level (assuming standard conditions). a. more, more b. more, less c. less, more d. less, less

10.  From reader Joseph Barber: An Aeroflot Airbus A310 departed Moscow’s Sheremetyevo International Airport on a routine passenger-carrying airline flight to Hong Kong in March 1994. The subsequent en route crash was caused by: a. a bird strike at 35,000 feet. b. both pilots becoming incapacitated. c. snakes in the cockpit. d. the captain’s 15-year- old son.

11.  Most pilots have never heard of the first airplane to receive an approved type certificate from the government. It was the Buhl-Verville CA-3 Airster in March 1927. The second airplane to be certified was manufactured by a. Boeing. b. Douglas. c. Fairchild. d. Waco.

TRUE OR FALSE

12.  From reader Mike Piccola: Nagasaki was the last Japanese city to be bombed during World War II.

13.   Achieving maximum endurance in a propeller-driven airplane at a given altitude requires maintaining the airspeed (angle of attack) at which the lift-to-drag ratio is at a maximum.

14.  From reader Dan Murphy: There are occasions when both pilots in the cockpit of an airplane with dual controls may simultaneously serve as pilot in command.

Answers

1. Some believed that aerobatic “stunts” would homeopathically “rouse the slumbering hearing apparatus” of the hearing impaired. Lindbergh charged $50 for such a “deaf flight.” No cures were recorded.

2. Two Rockwell workers were caught taking a “love break” inside the aft fuel tank during construction.

3. Homey Airport is better known as Area 51, the secretive military airport (34-15N, 115-48W) on the edge of Groom (Dry) Lake in southern Nevada. It is deep within a restricted area and protected by fighter aircraft.

4. Bouncing bombs were used to destroy dams. They were dropped from Lancaster bombers and bounced over the anti-torpedo barrier protecting a dam. They sank in the water and detonated upon contacting the sloping concrete wall of the dam.

5. Neither. The U.S. government forced Curtiss and the Wrights to sign a peace treaty at the beginning of World War I.

6. A busy, north-south highway crosses the east-west runway near its midpoint. Traffic guards, red lights, and railroad-crossing-style barriers are used to stop vehicular traffic when an aircraft is taking off or landing.

7. The DC–4 was the “Skymaster,” and the DC–6 was the “Cloudmaster.” The DC–7 did not have a name, except that the DC–7C was cleverly called the “Seven Seas.”

8. The farther the pod is from the pilot, the less it impedes his field of vision.

9. (a) With fixed manifold pressure and rpm, the colder air at altitude results in denser induction air, which increases fuel flow and power. Reduced back pressure improves engine efficiency.

10. (d) The captain allowed his son to sit in the left seat. The boy inadvertently disengaged the autopilot, which led to a stall and a spin. The first officer could not reach the flight controls in time because his seat was positioned too far aft.

11. (a) It was the Boeing Model 40A, an open-cockpit biplane (July 1927).

12. False. Five days later, on August 14, 1945, American B–29 Superfortresses bombed Akita, Isesaki, and Kumagaya. All hostilities ceased the next day, V-J Day.

13. False. Flight at L/DMAX results in maximum range. Maximum endurance is achieved by using the minimum fuel flow (power setting) required to maintain altitude.

14. False. Only one pilot can be in command, although there are numerous circumstances when both pilots may log the flight time as pilot in command.