Test Pilot

1. From reader Jeff Randolph: True or false? The US Airways accident commonly referred to as the “Miracle on the Hudson” was flown by Capt. Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger and caused by a black swan.
2. British pilots call them spats. American pilots call them _____.
3. From reader Brian Schiff: The global positioning system (GPS) was developed for only military use. What event was most responsible for GPS being made available for civilian use?
4. What is the definition of a slow airplane?
5. From reader David P. Smith: What is known about the first recorded midair collision?
6. Who were the Night Witches of World War II?
7. Who said, “If you are looking for perfect safety, you will do well to sit on a fence and watch the birds”?
8. In the 1950s television series Sky King, the hero, Schuyler “Sky” King, flew a
1. Beechcraft Model 18 Twin Beech.
2. Cessna T–50 Bobcat.
3. Cessna 310.
4.  Piper PA–23 Apache.

Test Pilot Answers

1. True. A black swan is an unpredictable or unforeseen event that typically has severe consequences.
2. Wheel pants.
3. President Ronald Reagan authorized civilian use of GPS in the wake of the tragic 1983 shootdown by the USSR of Korean Airlines Flight 007, which occurred in part because of a navigational programming error.
4. A slow airplane is one that receives a bird strike from behind.
5. It occurred on October 3, 1910, in Milan, Italy, when Frenchman René Thomas flying an Antionette IV collided with British pilot Bertram Dickson in a Farman III. Both survived. The first fatal midair collision occurred in France on June 19, 1912, when two French Army pilots collided and perished.
6. Called night witches by the Germans, they were the all-female, Soviet pilots of the 588th Night Bomber Regiment. Flying slow, 125-hp Polikarpov Po-2 trainers, they conducted 24,000 missions behind German lines and delivered thousands of tons of bombs from their fragile wood-and-fabric biplanes.
7. Wilbur Wright, 1901, two years before the first airplane flight.
8. There are two answers, B. and C. The T–50, a taildragger, was used in early episodes and the 310 in later ones. Each was named Songbird.