Test pilot May 2024

1. What is the longest operating airline in the world never to have suffered a fatal aircraft accident or hull loss? Hint: It is a U.S. airline.
2. True or false? Victor airways are named after Elias T. Victor Jr., who developed the U.S. airway system.
3. The Bell X-1 Glamorous Glennis was shackled to the belly of a B–29 and taken aloft from Muroc Dry Lake on October 14, 1947. After being drop-launched from the B–29, its pilot, Captain Charles “Chuck” Yeager, started the rocket engine and became the first ever confirmed to exceed the speed of sound in level flight. Why did Yeager wait until the B–29 had climbed through 12,000 feet to lower himself from the bomber into the rocket plane?
4. Louis Blériot made history on July 25, 1909, when he used his Blériot XI Monoplane to make the first airplane flight across the English Channel. Which one of the following is incorrect?
1. Paper, not fabric, was used as the structural covering.
2. The airplane used ailerons for roll control.
3. A destroyer was stationed at mid-channel in case Blériot had to ditch.
4. The flight ended with a crash landing atop the white cliffs of Dover.
5. From reader John Schmidt: You are flying IFR and encounter the following waypoints: WEWIL, NEVVR, FORGT, and SEPII. Toward what airport are you headed?
6. In 1912, which country had the most licensed pilots?
1. Argentina
2. England
3. France
4. United States
7. Which seated U.S. president inaugurated presidential travel by helicopter?
8. German airship designers obviously knew that hydrogen is flammable and that helium is not. So why was hydrogen used on the ill-fated Hindenburg and other German airships?

Answers

1. Hawaiian Airlines has never lost a passenger or an airplane. It began operating sightseeing flights over Oahu in 1929 and currently serves numerous international destinations from Hawaii.
2. False. Victor comes from the phonetic alphabet. The airways are so named because they are based on VHF (VOR) navaids.
3. The B-29 climbed at 180 mph, and the Bell had a stall speed of 240 mph. If there had been an accidental shackle release or if the X-1 had to be released below 10,000 feet, the rocket plane would have entered an unrecoverable spin. Above 10,000 feet, Yeager believed he’d have enough time and altitude to start the rocket and recover.
4. The correct answer is B. Like the Wright Flyer, wing warping was used on the Blériot XI Monoplane for roll control.
5. Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. Other similarly themed waypoints you might encounter in the vicinity of DCA are HONNR, BRVRY, COURG, and PLDGE. Also near there are SEALZ, RANGR, and JARHD.
6. The correct answer is C. France had 966 pilots, England had 382, and the United States had 193. Although Argentina had flying clubs and an Army Aviation Service, the number of pilots is unknown.
7. Called “Operation Alert,” President Dwight D. Eisenhower flew aboard a Bell UH-13J Sioux from the lawn of the White House to Camp David on July 12, 1957.
8. The United States had a monopoly on the world production of helium and would not sell this inert gas to the German government.