Test Pilot

1. From reader Gerd Wengler: Pilots are rightfully advised to clean bug splatter from a windshield before departure. But when can it be beneficial not to do so?
2. The official temperature at a given location is measured with a thermometer 1.5 meters (4.9 feet) above the ground and shielded from direct sunlight. What is the hottest such ambient temperature ever recorded and where was this?
3. From reader Brian Schiff: In the Pilot/Controller Glossary published in the Aeronautical Information Manual, the words highlighted in bold italics are
   A. internationally (ICAO) derived terms.
   B. commonly misunderstood terms.
   C. the most frequently used terms.
   D. recently revised terms.
4. True or false? The first powered flight of an aircraft occurred on December 17, 1903.
5. An adult airline passenger at altitude typically dehydrates at the rate of about two cups of water per hour. What is the effect of such dehydration?
6. What was the only U.S. fighter aircraft in production before, during, and after America’s involvement in World War II?
7. From reader John Schmidt: British aviation pioneer John Moore-Brabazon was first to take aloft a live animal in an airplane. The animal was a
   A. cat.
   B. chimpanzee.
   C. pig.
   D. rooster.
8. Arrange the major airports at Memphis, Minneapolis, and St. Louis in order of their elevation—highest airport first, lowest airport last.

Test Pilot Answers

1. When practicing or demonstrating steep turns. A pilot can locate a bug on the windshield that is “on the horizon” and then keep it there to maintain the attitude needed to continue with a near-perfect turn.
2. The highest ambient temperature ever recorded was 134 degrees Fahrenheit (Death Valley, California, 1913). At a pressure altitude of sea level, this results in a density altitude of 4,600 feet msl. (The previous high—136 degrees at Azizia, Libya in 1922—was decertified.)
3. The correct answer is C. Terms shown in bold italics are those most frequently used in pilot-controller communications.
4. False. The first powered flight occurred in 1852 when Henri Giffard flew a dirigible powered by a 3-horsepower steam engine.
5. Dehydration can lead to fatal blood clots. The longer the flight, therefore, the more important it is to replenish the loss by drinking water.
6. The Lockheed P–38 Lightning, which shot down the airplane carrying Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, planner of the attack on Pearl Harbor. German pilots referred to the P–38 as der gebelschwanz teufel, “the fork-tailed devil.”
7. The correct answer is C. On November 4, 1909, Brabazon tied a small wicker basket carrying a small pig to a strut of his Short Biplane No. 2. Why? To prove that pigs could fly.
8. Minneapolis (841 feet msl), St. Louis (605 feet msl), and Memphis (335 feet msl). It is an easy question when considering that these airports are adjacent to the Mississippi River, which flows downhill from north to south.