August Test Pilot

1. True or false? The Learjet 23 was certified by the FAA on July 31, 1964, thus becoming America’s first business jet.
2. How did The Ninety-Nines get its name?
3. What was the longest bombing mission in history?
4. In what type of aircraft did the following people perish?
1. U.S. Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown.
2. Singer/songwriter John Denver.
3. Musicians Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and J.P. Richardson Jr., the “Big Bopper.”
4. Band leader and composer Glenn Miller.
5. Legendary football coach Knute Rockne.
6. Humorist Will Rogers.
5. From reader Richard Somers: What pilot has flown 487 different types of aircraft, more than any other pilot in history?
6. The first civilian flight around the world was conducted by
1. Wiley Post and Harold Gatty.
2. Charles Kingsford Smith.
3. Wiley Post (alone).
4. the crew of Graf Zeppelin.
7. From reader George Shanks: If a baby is born on an airline flight over the mid-Atlantic Ocean, it will be considered to be a citizen of what country?
1. The country of which the mother is a citizen.
2. The country from which the flight last departed.
3. The country to which the flight is initially destined.
4. The country in which the airplane is registered.
8. Why is such a joyous sounding word as mayday used to sound an emergency?

Answers

1.  False. America’s first bizjet was the four-engine Lockheed L-1329 JetStar (introduced in 1961). Elvis Presley had two of them at different times—one was Hound Dog II—and Frank Sinatra also had one.
2. This international organization of women pilots was named for its 99 charter members. Amelia Earhart was elected as its president in 1931.
3. In response to the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, a Northrop B–2 stealth bomber, Spirit of America, departed Whiteman AFB Missouri on October 8, 2001, flew nonstop to Afghanistan (with five aerial refuelings), delivered 16 satellite-guided JDAM bombs on al Qaeda targets, and landed at Diego Garcia 44 hours, 18 minutes later.
1. Boeing 737 (USAF CT-43)
2. Rutan Long-EZ
3. Noorduyn Norseman (USAAF UC-64)
4. Fokker F-10 Trimotor
5. Lockheed Orion-Explorer floatplane
5. Captain Eric “Winkle” Brown was a British Royal Navy officer and test pilot who also made the most takeoffs from and landings on an aircraft carrier (2,407 and 2,271, respectively).
6. The correct answer is D. The zeppelin flew from Lakehurst, New Jersey, to Friedrichshafen, Germany, to Tokyo to Los Angeles and back to Lakehurst in August 1929. Post and Gatty made their flight in 1931, and Post did it solo in 1933.
7. The correct answer is D. According to the 1961 United Nations Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, the birth shall be considered to have occurred in the country of the aircraft’s registration.
8. Mayday has nothing to do with the first day of May. It is the anglicized spelling and pronunciation of the French, m’aidez, which means, help me.