1. Why were the Curtiss P–40 Tomahawk fighter aircraft used by the Flying Tigers emblazoned with the visage of an angry shark?
2. A 40-gallon fuel tank in the wing of an airplane is filled with fuel having a temperature of 60 degrees Fahrenheit. Solar heating causes the temperature of the fuel to climb to 90 degrees F, which causes the fuel to expand and spill overboard through the fuel vent. The amount of spillage is almost half a
A. cup.
B. pint.
C. quart.
D. gallon.
3. From reader Vince Scala: The HondaJet HA–420 was the first production bizjet with OTWEM (over-the-wing engine mounts). What production jetliner had the same over-the-wing engine configuration?
4. True or false? Large-scale aeronautical charts provide more detail than small-scale charts.
5. From reader Brian Schiff: A lightplane pilot tunes to an en route VOR and notes that his course-deviation indicator is fluctuating. What should he do to resolve this problem?
6. True or false: The United States has more tornadoes each year than any other country, and it also has the most violent tornadoes.
7. True or false: No American-built airplanes saw combat in Europe during World War I.
8. One of the most incredible flights in the history of aviation took place on June 23, 1954, in Santa Monica, California. Identify that flight.
Test Pilot Answers
- The Flying Tigers were not the first to use shark teeth and eyes as nose art. They adopted this menacing appearance, however, with the hope that it would frighten the supposedly superstitious Japanese. The emblem was probably more effective in boosting the morale of the volunteer pilots.
- D. According to Exxon, a 40-gallon tank will lose almost a half-gallon from expansion. The greater the temperature rise, the greater the fuel loss.
- The West German manufacturer, VFW-Fokker, introduced its VFW 614, a twin-engine regional airliner, in 1975.
- True. A sectional chart has a larger scale (1:500,000) than a WAC chart (1:1,000,000) and a smaller scale than a TAC or terminal-area chart (1:250,000).
- Certain propeller speeds can cause CDI fluctuations. The pilot should make slight rpm changes to see if this resolves the problem. Refer to Aeronautical Information Manual 1-1-3.
- True. No other place on Earth comes close to matching the number and severity of tornadoes in the United States.
- False. 9,500 British-designed de Havilland DH.4s were built in the United States by several airframe manufacturers of which 1,885 reached France during the war. Following the war, many DH.4s were used to carry U.S. mail.
- The author of this quiz made his first solo flight without injuring himself or the airplane.
