Test Pilot

General:

1. What country has the world’s worst weather?
2. From reader Gerd Wengler: What is the greatest speed ever attained by a human being in flight?
3. From reader John Lawton: Explain how it is possible for two aircraft to maintain a constant distance and bearing from each other while both maintain the same true heading and altitude, yet are flown at different true airspeeds (in no-wind conditions)?
4. From reader Mike Piccola: What famous pilot also was a bantamweight boxer who won a West Coast Amateur Championship and became a professional boxer?
5. From reader Tom Travis: What U.S. airline was first to operate an all-turbine (turbo-prop) fleet, and what U.S. airline was first to operate an all-jet fleet?
6. From reader Tom Nagorski: A pilot is speaking to an FSS specialist and is overheard saying, “I am going to praise God.” Why does this make perfect sense to the specialist?
7. From reader George Shanks: Who was the first politician to use an airplane to travel between campaign stops?

Multiple Choice:

8. Modern aviation transceivers used in the United States can transmit and receive on as many as _____ frequencies, and their range is 118.00 to _____ MHz.
   a. 720, 135.975
   b. 720, 136.975
   c. 760, 135.975
   d. 760, 136.975
9. From reader Bill Myers: Everyone knows that Charles Lindbergh was first to fly solo and nonstop from New York to Paris. The second pilot to do this was
   a. Giuseppe Bellanca.
   b. Clarence Chamberlin.
   c. Max Conrad.
   d. Wiley Post.
10. 10. Which of the following does not belong?
    a. automatic
    b. coupled
    c. fixed
    d. manual
    e. pressure

True or False:

11. A glider has never been flown nonstop across the United States (without being towed while en route).
12. From reader Gil Davis: Pilots not only are required to turn on their anticollision lights when flying at night, they also are required to turn them on during daylight, VFR conditions in all classes of airspace.
13. From reader Tony Bill: Lycoming began manufacturing engines in 1907, only four years after the Wright brothers’ first powered flight.
14. No American pilot was an ace in both World War II and the Korean War.

Answers

1. The United States is subjected to hurricanes, flooding, drought, heat and cold waves, blizzards, and the worst tornado activity on Earth.
2. Eugene Cernan, Thomas Stafford, and John Young reached 21,542 knots (24,791 mph) while returning from the moon in Apollo 10 on May 26, 1969. They had to come home in a hurry because two of the three fuel cells providing electrical power and water had failed.
3. The aircraft fly along different parallels (circles) of latitude and cross meridians at the same rate. Because the sizes of the circles vary with latitude, airspeed must be proportional to the size of the circle. In other words, the airplane flying the larger circle is flying faster than the airplane tracking the smaller one.
4. James H. “Jimmy” Doolittle, who was only 5 feet 4 inches tall, boxed professionally under the name of Jimmy Pierce, an attempt to deceive his mother into believing that he had given up boxing.
5. Bonanza Airlines when it replaced its Douglas DC–3s in November 1960 with Fokker (Fairchild) F-27 Friendships, and TWA when it retired its last Lockheed Constellation in April 1967.
6. Praise God Airport (KY16) is near Carter, Kentucky, and the private airport is the pilot’s destination.
7. Adolph Hitler used a Junkers Ju-52, which is roughly similar to a Ford Tri-Motor, during his 1932 political campaign.
8. (d) The emergency frequency, however, is protected by a buffer that excludes using the three frequencies immediately above and below 121.5 MHz. Transceivers used in Europe have three times as many frequencies (8.3 kHz separation instead of 25 kHz).
9. (c) Known as the “Flying Grandfather,” Max Conrad was first to repeat Lindbergh’s flight. The 1954 flight was made in a Piper Apache equipped with additional fuel tanks; it took 22 hours and 23 minutes.
10. (e) The first four are methods by which turbocharger wastegates are controlled. A pressure controller is a type of automatic controller. An alternate answer is (c) because a fixed wastegate does not move.
11. True. The first glider flight across the United States while being towed and with en route stops was made in 1930 by Frank Hawks, a well-known race pilot and record setter.
12. True. The daytime use of anticollision lights applies, of course, only to aircraft equipped with them. Refer to FAR 91.209(b).
13. True. The Lycoming Foundry and Machine Company began making automobile engines in 1907 and for 25 years thereafter built 57 types (including V-8s) for Cords, Auburns, Duesenbergs, and other automobiles. It began making aircraft engines in 1929.
14. False. There are seven. The best known is Francis “Gabby” Gabreski, who made 28 kills over Europe flying a Republic P–47 Thunderbolt and shot down 6.5 MiGs while piloting a North American F–86 Sabre.

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