Test Pilot

1. From reader George Shanks: True or false? The world’s first automatic landing was made in London on June 10, 1965, by a Hawker Siddely HS–121 Trident, a British trijet with the appearance of a Boeing 727.
2. What was the first airline to institute a frequent-flier program?
3. From reader Brian Schiff: Where are the following waypoints located? CHPLN, ESTWD, FNNDA, GABBL, MDLER, MCQWN, MNROE, and NWMAN
4. State within 10 degrees Fahrenheit the coldest temperature (exclusive of wind-chill factor) ever recorded on Earth in the free atmosphere.
5. What time zone is used at the North Pole?
6. True or false? In 1941, a private pilot was not allowed to fly more than three miles beyond the departure airport at night in a single-engine airplane unless equipped with certified landing flares to illuminate a landing site in case of engine failure.
7. The Northrop Alpha was a beautiful all-metal, low-wing monoplane of the 1930s that carried six passengers comfortably inside the enclosed fuselage. Pilots, however, had to sit in an open cockpit atop the fuselage. What did the pilots think of this configuration?
8. The pilot of a Cessna 172 is heading directly into the sun on a true heading of 096 degrees and notes that the sun is 15 degrees above the horizon. At the same time, the pilot of a Piper Warrior is heading into the sun on a true heading of 088 degrees and notes that the sun is 10 degrees above the horizon. The Cessna is _____ of the Piper.
   A. southwest
   B. southeast
   C. northwest
   D. northeast

Test Pilot Answers

1. False. The Trident made the first automatic landing by an airliner in scheduled service on that date, but the first ever automatic landing was made by a single-engine Fokker C–14B flown by U.S. Army pilots at Patterson Field (near Dayton, Ohio) on August 23, 1937.
2. American Airlines initiated its program in 1981.
3. Chaplin, Eastwood, Fonda, Gable, Midler, McQueen, Monroe, and Newman are on the HLYWD (Hollywood) 1 RNAV ARRIVAL to Los Angeles International Airport.
4. Minus 128.6 degrees F (minus 89.2 degrees C) was recorded at Vostok Station, Antarctica, on July 21, 1983.
5. By agreement, the time at the North and South Poles is Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), and this applies to large regions around both poles.
6. False. Flares were required if the aircraft were being operated for hire and obviously were effective only if deployed when the aircraft was directly over the intended landing site. They also drifted with the wind during descent and were known to start ground fires, which created more illumination than intended.
7. Pilots preferred the open cockpit. They did not trust instruments during the early 1930s and believed that they needed to be exposed to the elements to fly well.
8. The correct answer is D. Because both aircraft are heading toward the same point, the one heading most southerly (the Cessna) must be north of the other. Because both pilots are heading easterly, the one observing the higher elevation of the sun (also the Cessna) must be farther east than the other.