Test Pilot

August 3, 2009


  1. From reader Jonathan Apfelbaum: The Ferrari logo is a prancing stallion. What does this have to do with aviation?

  2. According to a feature article, “When Birds Strike” by Bob Behren in the April 2009 AOPA Pilot, what type of bird has been identified as the most damaging to aircraft in the event of a bird strike?

  3. From reader James Kulawiak: What special equipment did Wilbur Wright carry aboard his aircraft when he flew over New York Harbor in October 1909?

  4. Unicom often is used by pilots to communicate with fixed-base operators and is an acronym derived from what two words?

  5. I taught my first wife, Sandy, to fly in 1967. She was in her ninth month of pregnancy with our first son, Brian, when she made her first solo flight. The question is, did she really solo?

  6. From reader Richard Wilsher: What aircraft was known simply as “Article 341”?

  7. From reader Bill Clark: Most runways have reciprocal directions, such as Runway 03-21, Runway 09-27, and so forth. Explain why one runway is 04-19.

  8. From reader Ralph Notaristefano: What famous woman pilot had a brother who also was a famous pilot and who founded a famous airframe manufacturing company?


  9. An airline crew departs London, England, for Rome, Italy, on a regularly scheduled, passenger-carrying flight in a Boeing 747. One of the engines has been completely dead from before takeoff until after landing. Such a flight can be completely safe and legal.
  10. From reader George Shanks: Some airlines were once approved to execute “NDB” instrument approaches using a commercial (AM) broadcast station as the only navaid.
  11. GPS receivers typically provide aircraft position in three dimensions (longitude, latitude, and altitude). When climbing vertically at 100 knots in an aerobatic airplane with such a receiver, indicated groundspeed is 100 knots.

  12. From reader Tony Bill: Prior to hydraulic brakes, wheel brakes on airplanes and automobiles were actuated by rod or cable. Which famous aviation pioneer invented the hydraulic brake? a. Glenn Curtiss b. Donald Douglas c. Malcolm Loughead d. John Northrop

  13. From reader Andrew Reibman: Most surplus jetliners are stored at desert airports in Arizona, California, and New Mexico. The monthly cost to park a Boeing 747 in the desert at Marana, Arizona, for example, is a. $5,000. b. $15,000. c. $30,000. d. $60,000.
  14. From reader John Schmidt: What is the largest number of wing walkers to stand together on a wing during flight? a. 19 b. 29 c. 39 d. 49


  1. On June 17, 1923, Enzo Ferrari met the Countess Paolina, mother of Count Francesco Baracca, an Italian Air Force ace and national hero of World War I. The pilot had a prancing horse painted on each side of his Nieuport fighter. The countess asked Ferrari to use this horse on his cars, suggesting that it would bring him good luck.

  2. The turkey vulture. Second and third most damaging are Canada geese and white pelicans, respectively.

  3. A canoe.

  4. The word unicom was coined by AOPA Pilot’s first editor, Max Karant, and was derived from “universal communications,” so called perhaps because all unicom stations used to communicate on a universal frequency, 122.8 kc.

  5. I was unable to obtain an official ruling, which is just as well.

  6. This was the Central Intelligence Agency’s code name for the Lockheed U-2, an attempt to obscure the airplane’s existence during development and flight test.

  7. The runway at Lugards Falls in Tsavo East National Park, Kenya, has a 30-degree dogleg so that one end is 040 degrees and the other is 190. Crosswind operations there can be more challenging than usual, and an overrun of Runway 04 slides you into a river—where crocodiles reside.

  8. The Stinson Aircraft Corporation was founded by Edward A. “Eddie” Stinson Jr. Both he and his sister, Katherine, were famous “stunt,” barnstorming, and record-setting pilots of the pioneer era.

  9. True. A spare fifth engine can be hung under the left wing root (inboard of the number two engine) of some Boeing 747s and transported in this way to where it is needed by another airplane.

  10. True. This was a long time ago. An airline’s local operations officer would contact the station before each approach so that the on-air announcer would broadcast the station’s identification.

  11. False. Indicated groundspeed would be zero and is strictly a function of the rate of change of horizontal position. If the airplane were climbing vertically with respect to a moving air mass, however, wind speed and direction would be shown as groundspeed and track.

  12. (a) This unofficial world record for wing-walking was set on November 14, 1981, when 19 skydivers stood on the left wing of Martin Caidin’s Junkers Ju 52.

  13. (c) Loughead, who later changed his name to Lockheed, invented hydraulic brakes in 1918 and founded the Lockheed Hydraulic Brake Company the following year.

  14. (d) Approximately 800 aircraft have been parked since mid-2008, and the number is increasing.

    Visit the author’s Web site ( www.barryschiff.com).