Test Pilot

1. From reader Jonathan Apfelbaum: What was the United States’ first operational jet bomber? (It also was first to enter production.)

2. Modern, full-motion simulators have six freedoms of motion. Can you name these motions?

3. From reader Rick Cohen: Estimate within 2,000 feet the highest altitude attained by a manned balloon not equipped with supplemental oxygen or any form of pressurization.

4. What is the most practical way for a pilot to protect against hydrometeors?

5. From reader Tony Bill: During the 1950s and 1960s, U.S. Naval airplanes were painted gray with white control surfaces. Why were the control surfaces painted white?

6. A sadistic instructor places Scotch tape over the static ports of an airplane to determine if his student will notice the defect during the preflight inspection. This sabotage, however, goes undetected, and the instructor forgets to remove the tape. Which statement describes the behavior of the airspeed indicator during the subsequent takeoff roll?

a) Indicated airspeed is unaffected.
b) Indicated airspeed is greater than it should be.
c) Indicated airspeed is less than it should be.
d) Indicated airspeed remains at zero.

7. A tall spike sits atop the famous Capitol Records Building (aka the Capitol Records Tower) in Hollywood. This coincidentally gives the circular building the appearance of a stack of LP records on a turntable. What is so unusual about the red, blinking obstruction light at the tip of the spike?

8. True or false? Relatively cool air at altitude cools an overheating engine better than relatively warm air at sea level.

Illustration by John Holm

1. The B–45 Tornado first flew on March 17, 1947, and Boeing subsequently built 143 of these straight-wing, four-engine bombers. The swept-wing Boeing B–47 Stratojet was America’s second jet bomber.

2. The easy ones are roll, pitch, and yaw. The other three are lateral (sideways), vertical (up and down), and longitudinal (fore and aft). These latter three movements also are known as sway, heave, and surge, respectively.

3. James Glaisher and Henry Coxwell ascended to 37,000 feet over England on September 5, 1862, in a hydrogen balloon. Glaisher lost consciousness for 30 minutes and recovered after Coxwell had descended the balloon. Glaisher’s temperature measurements provided the first direct indication of the existence of the stratosphere.

4. Wear a raincoat and use an umbrella. A hydrometeor is any form of liquid water or ice in the atmosphere.

5. It was thought that white would better protect control surfaces against the heat of a nuclear detonation than darker colors and thus was an attempt to preserve aircraft controllability.

6. a) There normally is no change in static pressure during the takeoff roll because the aircraft is not changing altitude. This is why all pitot-static instruments would operate normally during the roll. During climb, however, indicated airspeed would become less than it should be, and this error would increase with altitude.

7. Astute pilots notice that the obstruction light flashes “Hollywood” in Morse code (with FAA approval). The switch was initially turned on in 1956 by Leila Morse, the granddaughter of Samuel Morse.

8. False. Dense air—even when relatively warm—carries away engine heat more effectively than air that is less dense and relatively cool.