1. Early pilots often earned a living by flying from one rural town to the next where they sold airplane rides, raced, and gave flying exhibitions. Why were they called barnstormers?
2. Why were some bombs dropped by parachute during World War II?
3. From reader Paul Reinman: What was the first country to shoot down a Boeing B–52 Stratofortress?
4. For atmospheric conditions to be unstable, the adiabatic lapse rate generally must be _____ the ambient lapse rate.
A. greater than
B. equal to
C. less than
D. It does not matter.
5. From reader John Schmidt: Conventional transponders squawk and Mode S transponders squit. What is the difference between squawking and squitting?
6. True or false? The effect of magnetic dip is offset somewhat by the addition of a small weight to the south pole of conventional (wet) aircraft compasses intended for use in the Northern Hemisphere. Similarly, a small weight is added to the north pole of compasses intended for use in the Southern Hemisphere.
7. Which of the following airframe manufacturers designed and produced its own helicopter?
A. Beech
B. Cessna
C. Mooney
D. Piper
8. Two pilots flying in formation with inaccurate tachometers want to fly at exactly the same rpm. How can they achieve this?
Test Pilot Answers
1. Barnstorming is a term that was appropriated by pioneer aviators from touring theatrical groups. These roving actors often performed in barns and referred to themselves as barnstormers.
2. When dropped from low altitude, parachutes gave pilots of slow aircraft time to escape the target area before the bombs exploded.
3. The United States of America. On April 7, 1961, during a training exercise over the Southwest, a heat-seeking Sidewinder missile carried by a participating F–100 Super Sabre inadvertently got deployed and blew off the left wing of the bomber.
4. C. In this way, rising air being cooled adiabatically remains warmer than the surrounding air and continues to rise on its own accord.
5. In simple terms, a squawk is a conventional transponder’s response to an ATC interrogation from a ground station. The avionics of ADS-B Out squits a squitter, a periodic (more than once per second) and unsolicited burst or stream of data (position, speed, altitude, et cetera) downlinked (sent) to ground stations and other aircraft.
6. At least one compass manufacturer, Airpath, does this to reduce compass errors caused by magnetic dip. The amount of dip offset of a specific compass can be determined by observing the extent to which a compass card is tilted during straight-and-level flight.
7. B. The Cessna CH–1 Skyhook was introduced in 1956 and was the first helicopter to land on Pike’s Peak (14,155 feet). It also set a world altitude record of 29,777 feet, the highest ever achieved by a piston-powered helicopter. The Skyhook was the first helicopter approved by the FAA for IFR flight. Fifty had been built when production ended in 1962.
8. The wingman moves behind the leader and views the leader’s propeller disc through his own. Because of stroboscopic effect, the wingman will see a line (assuming that the propellers of both aircraft have the same number of blades). He adjusts his engine rpm until the line remains stationary.
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