Test Pilot

1. To provide Allied bombers with fighter escorts during World War II, the range of North American P–51 Mustangs was extended by equipping them with auxiliary drop tanks made of

A. aluminum.
B. clay.
C. paper.
D. wood.

2. An attitude indicator shows changes in pitch and roll because of the way in which a spinning gyroscope remains fixed in space. Why, then, doesn’t the conventional artificial horizon indicate an inverted attitude following a nonstop flight from the North Pole to the South Pole?

3. While in Europe you board a short-haul airline flight, a regional carrier that is owned by the flag carrier of a certain European nation. You then discover that the first officer operating your flight is that country’s reigning monarch. Who is this king and what is his nationality?

4. The following encore question was originally published in "Test Pilot" in 1994: How is it possible in the Northern Hemisphere for a pilot to fly 500 miles north, 500 miles east, and 500 miles south (in that sequence) so as to arrive at the same point from which he started? All directions are true and the winds are calm. Remember that this takes place entirely in the Northern Hemisphere.

5. From reader John Schmidt: United Airlines operates nonstop between Los Angeles and Singapore, the world’s longest international flight. What is the world’s shortest international flight?

6. The first nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean was flown by Britons John Alcock and Arthur Brown in a Vickers Vimy biplane in 1919. Who was first to fly nonstop across the Pacific Ocean?

7. True or false: Japan developed and flew a twin-engine, jet-powered interceptor during World War II.

8. What technique used by ballet dancers can be used by a pilot to avoid becoming dizzy during a spin?

Test Pilot Answers

1. C. Because of metal shortages during the war, the British ingeniously developed disposable fuel tanks made of resorcinol glue-impregnated kraft paper that was painted to resemble aluminum.

2. The erecting mechanism of the attitude indicator exerts a small but constant gravitational bias on the spinning gyro. This causes the gyro to maintain a right-side-up attitude with respect to the Earth’s center of gravity. This is why an attitude indicator gradually biases toward a wing’s-level indication during a prolonged turn.

3. King Willem-Alexander, reigning monarch of the Netherlands, has been operating two airline flights per month for more than 20 years to maintain currency and “decompress from his royal duties.” (There’s more than one reason why KLM is known as “Royal Dutch Airlines.”)

4. As we proceed north from the Equator, parallels (circles) of latitude become smaller. If we go far enough north, we eventually reach a circle of latitude that has a circumference of only 500 nautical miles. The problem is solved by starting 500 miles south of this circle. The pilot then flies due north for 500 miles, turns eastward, and then flies around the North Pole in a 500-mile circle. At the end of this circumpolar leg, he turns south and flies for another 500 miles until arriving over the starting point.

5. A Canadian airline, NorthStar Air Tours, operates Britten-Norman Islanders along the 17-nautical-mile route connecting Friday Harbor, Washington, and Victoria, British Columbia.

6. Clyde Pangborn and Hugh Herndon Jr. flew their Bellanca Skyrocket, Miss Veedol, from Japan to Wenatchee, Washington, in 1931 and covered the 4,465 statute miles in 41 hours, 13 minutes.

7. True, but barely. The Nakajima Kikka made its first and only flight on August 7, 1945, the day after Hiroshima. Ten aircraft were built but all were officially retired on August 15, 1945, V-J Day.

8. Focus the eyes on one object on the horizon for as long as possible, then shift to another, and so forth.