1. From reader Stephen Craig: True or false? Although numerous Hollywood actors and sports celebrities served as pilots and crewmembers during World War II, none ever became an ace.
2. Who was an elected member of the U.S. House of Representatives?
A. William Boeing
B. Douglas “Wrong Way” Corrigan
C. Glenn Curtiss
D. Charles A. Lindbergh
3. Which Fortune 500 company’s CEO was once so desperate for funds that he went to Las Vegas with the company’s last $5,000 and won $27,000 at blackjack, enough to help keep his company’s airplanes in the air for another week?
4. A pilot stalls his conventional lightplane, holds the wheel fully aft, and then kicks and holds full rudder. After a short pause, he adds full power and then applies and holds full opposite aileron. The resultant maneuver is called a _______.
5. A pilot departed Tahiti (where local time is UTC-10) at 2245 local time on June 23 on a 3,300-nm, nonstop flight to Sydney, Australia (where local time is UTC+10). He landed at 0115 local time on June 25. Both airports are in the Southern Hemisphere. His airplane was a
A. Rutan Long-EZ with long-range tanks.
B. Boeing 777.
C. Concorde.
D. hypersonic aerospace vehicle.
6. For what military purposes were kites used during World War II?
7. Everyone knows that Amelia Earhart failed in her attempt to be the first woman to fly around the world. Who was the first woman to succeed?
8. A pilot might say that he or she is in the doldrums when feeling sluggish, gloomy, or in a low-energy state. What is the meteorological source of this expression?
Test Pilot Answers
1. False. Although initially considered physically too large to be a fighter pilot, actor Wayne Morris eventually qualified as a Navy Hellcat pilot and served in Fighter Squadron 15 aboard the USS Essex. The highly decorated pilot shot down seven Japanese Zeros and sank, helped to sink, or damaged numerous enemy ships.
2. D. Charles August Lindbergh, father of famed pilot, Charles Augustus Lindbergh, was a Republican congressman (Minnesota) from 1907 to 1917. (Lindbergh’s kidnapped baby was Charles A. Lindbergh, Jr.)
3. In the early days of FedEx, CEO Fred Smith was faced with high fuel prices and heavy debt that threatened to shut down his company. His Las Vegas winnings helped him to regain his company’s inexorable climb to success.
4. A flat spin from which recovery might not be possible.
5. B. Takeoff was at 0845 UTC on July 24, and landing was at 1515 UTC (also on the 24th). The 3,300-nm flight, therefore, took six hours and 30 minutes for an average groundspeed of roughly 500 knots. The aircraft had to have been a Boeing 777.
6. Russia used kites to drop propaganda leaflets over the Eastern Front, and the Allies raised them over ships as protection against dive bombers.
7. On March 19, 1964, 38-year-old housewife Jerrie Mock departed Columbus, Ohio, in her Cessna 180 (N1538C) and flew alone and around the world, returning to Columbus 29 days later (April 17).
8. The doldrums are equatorial areas between the trade winds of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres where the wind is either light and variable or calm—conditions that caused serious problems for commercial sailing vessels.
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