Test Pilot

1. What well-known aviator was awarded an honorary doctorate by the same university where six years earlier he had been asked to leave in the middle of his sophomore year because 
   of failing grades?
2. From reader and astronaut Jay Apt: True or false? While orbiting the Earth, shuttle astronauts noted that the sky was black during both the daytime and nighttime portions of each orbit. This means that they could see stars at all times.
3. From reader John Schmidt: During soaring operations, a sailplane is typically towed aloft by an Aviat Husky, a Cessna Bird Dog, a Piper Pawnee, or other such towplane. The highest altitude to which a glider has been towed aloft is
1. 17,100 feet msl.
2. 7,100 feet msl.
3. 37,100 feet msl.
4. 47,100 feet msl.
4. While learning to fly in 1911, what pilot (who later became famous) caught a bug in one eye, purchased a pair of motorcycle goggles at a local five-and-dime store, and pioneered the use of goggles in airplanes?
5. From reader George Shanks: Who in 1939 became AOPA’s first member (AOPA #001)?
6. The first pilot, man or woman, to fly solo over the true North Pole in a light airplane was
1. Jacqueline Cochran.
2. Beryl Markham.
3. Hanna Reitsch.
4. Sheila Scott.
7. Why does the Lockheed P–38 Lightning have a control wheel instead of a control stick as do other American fighters?
8. True or false? During World War II, someone wanting to take civilian flight instruction was required to apply for and obtain permission from the Civil Aeronautics Administration before taking dual instruction.

Answers

1. Charles A. Lindbergh’s success with the Spirit of St. Louis was recognized in a setting—the University of Wisconsin, Madison—where he had previously known failure.
2. False. Even though the sky was black during the daytime portion of Earth orbit, overwhelming sunlight, scattered light in the windows or helmet, and reflected light from the shuttle prevented the human eye from adapting sufficiently to see starlight.
3. The correct answer is D. The Perlan 2 pressurized glider was towed aloft from El Calafate, Argentina, in 2018 by a Grob G 520 Egrett, a German single-engine turboprop. On a separate flight and following tow release, the Perlan 2 soared to a record altitude of 76,124 feet.
4. Henry “Hap” Arnold, the only person ever to become a five-star general in both the United States Army and United States Air Force.
5. Gill Robb Wilson was also a member of the Lafayette Flying Corps during World War I, founded the Civil Air Patrol, and was an early editor of Flying magazine.
6. The correct answer is D. Sheila Scott (1927–1988), an English actress who began flying in 1959, established many world aviation records including a 1966 flight around the world in a Piper Comanche and a 1971 flight over the North Pole in a Piper Aztec.
7. The P–38 is a twin-engine airplane and does not have an engine in the nose to expand the width of the nose. As a result, the cockpit is too narrow to accommodate the necessary sideways throw of a control stick.
8. True. Applicants were given permission only if their flying activities “would be in the public interest and directly in furtherance of the war effort.”