1. True or false? A pilot notices a shooting star during a night flight and is aware that it could be a clump of excrement.
2. How do British pilots refer to an airplane’s control stick?
3. From reader John Schmidt: A 50,000-pound block of ice—possibly the heaviest single payload ever transported by helicopter—was lifted from the Siberian tundra to a laboratory in Khatanga, Taymyr, Russia. What was so important about this block of ice that carrying it jeopardized the structural integrity of the Mil Mi–26 helicopter carrying it?
4. True or false? The Vought F4U Corsair of World War II fame has a gull wing.
5. From reader Bill Havener: Who was the first pilot to perform an outside loop—a maneuver that had previously been considered unsurvivable?
6. A piston-powered airplane and a fanjet-powered airplane are being operated under Part 91 of the Federal Aviation Regulations. According to regulation, the piston engine _____ be overhauled when it reaches TBO (time between overhaul), and the fanjet engine _____ be overhauled when it reaches TBO.
A. does not have to, must
B. does not have to, does not have to
C. must, must
D. must, does not have to
7. During cruise flight a pilot is approaching a flock of birds at his altitude. The safest procedure (for the airplane and for the birds) is to
A. descend.
B. climb.
C. maintain altitude.
D. turn right (Northern Hemisphere only).
8. True or false? The Cuban eight was first performed and demonstrated by a Frenchman, and the chandelle was first performed and demonstrated by a Cuban?
Test Pilot Answers
1. True. Excrement produced aboard the Space Station is freeze-dried and periodically discharged into space. Descending toward Earth, it burns in the atmosphere and—according to NASA—looks just like a shooting star.
2. They refer to a control stick as a control pole, as in “pole and pedals” instead of “stick and rudder.”
3. It encased a preserved, 23,000-year-old woolly mammoth. The Mi–26, the world’s largest production helicopter, is capable of lifting America’s largest helicopter, the Sikorsky CH–53E Super Stallion.
4. False. The Corsair has an inverted gull wing.
5. On May 25, 1927, 1st Lt. James H. “Jimmy” Doolittle performed the first outside loop using a Curtiss P–1B Hawk over Wright Field in Ohio. Following his 1942 raid over Tokyo, Doolittle was awarded the Medal of Honor.
6. A. Piston engines operated for hire must be overhauled upon reaching TBO, but those being operated privately need not be (as long as they remain airworthy). The TBO for turbine engines is mandatory, whether operated for hire or not.
7. B. This recommendation is in the Aeronautical Information Manual. Birds in flocks tend to distribute themselves downward with lead birds being at the highest altitude.
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