Test Pilot

1. True or false? In 1940—long before showing movies became popular on the airlines—one airline passed out individual AM radios to its passengers so that they could listen to commercial broadcast stations while en route.
2. Estimate within a quarter inch of mercury the greatest atmospheric pressure ever recorded on Earth.
3. The entire continent of Antarctica has _____ airport(s).
   A. one
   B. five
   C. 20
   D. 50+
4. When was an aircraft first put to military use, and how was it used?
5. From reader John Schmidt: What well-known aviation company has manufactured the pressure suits worn by the pilots of all U.S. high-altitude flights including those worn by pilots of the Lockheed U–2 Dragon Lady, the Lockheed SR–71 Blackbird, and the space shuttle?
6. True or false? The pilot of a Japanese warplane bombed the coast of Oregon during World War II.
7. From reader Andy Markoe: What is the primary reason that older pilots are safer than younger pilots?
8. Women pilots were derisively called “petticoat pilots” and “sweethearts of the air,” which is why I received little recognition for winning in 1929 the first Women’s Air Derby [the Powder Puff Derby]. But male pilots did notice when I won the prestigious Bendix Air Race in 1936 against an otherwise all-male field. My name is
   A. Jacqueline Cochran.
   B. Amelia Earhart.
   C. Harriet Quimby.
   D. Louise Thaden.

Test Pilot Answers

1. True. TWA was first to offer this service.
2. 32.01 in Hg at Agata, Siberia, on December 31, 1968. The greatest recorded in the United States was 31.85 in Hg at Barrow, Alaska, on January 31, 1989.
3. The correct answer is D. Most are called skiways, such as America’s Jack F. Paulus Skiway serving the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. Its single snow runway (02/20) is 12,000 feet long and is at an elevation of 9,300 feet.
4. A balloon, L’entreperant, was tethered by the French on June 26, 1794, during the Battle of Fleurus. From this lofty vantage point, Colonel Jean-Marie-Joseph Coutelle observed the battlefield and directed artillery fire for nine hours.
5. The David Clark Company—which also makes those famous green headsets—has been a pioneer in the development of protective equipment since 1941.
6. True. A Yokosuka E14Y was launched from a submarine on September 9, 1942, and dropped four 168-pound phosphorous bombs near Brookings, Oregon. No one was injured and damage was minimal.
7. Older pilots run out of bladder long before they run out of fuel.
8. The correct answer is D, Louise Thaden. Quimby was the first woman pilot licensed in the United States and the first woman to fly across the English Channel. Cochran won the Bendix Air Race in 1938, headed the U.S. Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) during World War II, and was the first women to fly faster than the speed of sound (1953).