Test Pilot

1. From reader George Shanks: How did aviation contribute to the success of the ballpoint pen?
2. True or false? The Ercoupe was the first certified airplane with tricycle landing gear.
3. From reader John Schmidt: Michael Eisner, former CEO of the Walt Disney Company, was dining with two pilots when he casually asked where they’d like to go. “We’re going to Disneyland,” they replied. Who were these well-known aviators responsible for starting this now-famous promotional response (most often of athletes following great accomplishments)?
4. What is the aeronautical origination of the expression, “the whole nine yards?”
5. What is the oldest U.S. airline that has never experienced a passenger fatality or hull loss?
6. True or false? A German woman, Hannah Reitsch, was first to fly a jet-powered airplane.
7. From reader John Williams: On September 24, 1929, Jimmy Doolittle made the first-ever “blind” takeoff and landing. He accomplished this at Mitchel Field in Garden City, New York, while flying a Consolidated NY–2 biplane under a canvas hood that completely covered his cockpit. What kind of vertical guidance was provided during the “zero-zero” descent portion of the approach and landing?
8. Which one of the following cities annually experiences more lightning than any other in the United States?
   A. Albuquerque, New Mexico
   B. Atlanta, Georgia
   C. Kansas City, Missouri
   D. Tampa, Florida

Test Pilot Answers

1. Reduced cabin pressure—especially in non-pressurized aircraft—caused ink to leak from fountain pens and ruin shirts. Ballpoint pens typically did not do that.
2. False. The first was the Curtiss-Wright CA–1 amphibious Commuter in 1935. It was followed by a few lesser-known aircraft. The Ercoupe (1940) was the first general aviation airplane with tricycle gear to achieve popularity.
3. The response about going to Disneyland was made by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager. This was a month after their December 1986 nonstop, unrefueled flight around the world in the Rutan Voyager.
4. The machine guns of a P–51 Mustang were fed by ammunition belts that were 27 feet long. After a pilot emptied his guns on a target, he would sometimes say that he “gave ’em the whole nine yards.”
5. Hawaiian Airlines, which began service in 1929 as Inter-Island Airways.
6. False. The first turbine-powered airplane, the Heinkel He 178, was first flown by Erich Warsitz on August 27, 1939. Although not the first, the petite aviatrix and test pilot did fly the first rocket-powered airplane, the Messerschmitt 163.
7. There was none. Doolittle approached the airport on the west leg of a four-course, low-frequency range. He descended to and maintained 200 feet until passing a marker beacon near the airport boundary. He then established a slow descent until contacting the ground in three-point attitude.
8. The correct answer is D. The other cities do not experience winter thunderstorms to the extent that Tampa does.