Section=Getintro
Feb. 6, 2012
Interactive Quiz #168:
Dreams Are Made Of This
It's not just how well you fly that makes a great pilot. How good you look in flight also matters. Let's test your ability to look and fly smart by exploring the possibilities of aeronautical form and function. (Includes a new survey to determine the most beautiful airplane.)
INSTRUCTIONS: Answer the questions as best you can, then click on the "Score my quiz answers" button to see your score and read the explanations. If you don't like your score the first time around, you can change some of your answers and resubmit. To get the most out of this quiz, we suggest you keep trying until you get a perfect score.
NOTE: When more than one answer is true, only the most complete, correct answer will be scored as correct. The answers are assumed to apply within the United States unless otherwise noted.
Section=Postintro
Interactive Quiz #168
Dreams Are Made Of This
Section=Questions
1. In a previous Brainteaser (#166), we explored ATC angles, such as radar-vector angles to an instrument final-approach course. Now consider the airframe and this definition from the Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge: "The angle formed by the chord line of the wing and a line parallel to the longitudinal axis of the airplane." What is that angle called?
a. Angle of insipience
b. Angle of attack
c. Angle of lift
d. Angle of incidence
2. The French didn't invent flight, but they seemed to have secured the naming rights: aileron, pitot, Air Bus ... Admittedly, French aeronautical designers also designed some of the most beautiful biplanes ever made, such as the SPAD XIII and Nieuport 17. But whether French or a venerable American Stearman biplane, the angle difference between the upper and lower biplane wings is (_____). (Fill in the blank. See this photo if you've never seen a biplane, and that would be so sad.)
a. Decalage
b. Empennage
c. l'Baggage
d. Fromage
3. Fill in this blank from the American FAA's Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge: "(_____) construction uses stressed skin to support almost all loads, much like an aluminum beer can."
a. Monocoupe
b. Monocoque
c. Monocogue
d. Monorail
4. Refer to this picture. It's an easily recognizable Beechcraft Model 17 "Staggerwing." The "Staggerwing" name is a bit confusing because the upper and lower wings on most biplanes are staggered, with one slightly forward of the other. Usually the upper wing is forward. Beech reversed that to wonderfully stylish results and achieved what is called (_____) stagger. (Photo courtesy of Brent Taylor, Antique Airplane Association)
a. Positive
b. Neutral
c. Negative
d. Alternative
5. Regardless how many wings you're flying above, beneath or between, if a wing's angle of attack becomes excessive, it will stall. Let's say that if right wing drops in a stall, the airplane pilot should raise the lowered wing by inputting (_____). (Answer based on the Airplane Flying Handbook.)
a. Ailerons (yoke or stick to the left)
b. Rudder
c. Elevator (or stabilator)
d. Ailerons (yoke or stick to the right)
6. Some airplanes offer a fair amount of comforting aileron effectiveness as the wing approaches its critical angle of attack. This is achieved by constructing the wing so that the wing root chord has a (_____) angle of (_____) than the wingtips. (Hint: Refer back to Question #1 for half of the answer.)
a. Greater, incidence
b. Greater, attack
c. Lower, insipience
d. Lower, incidence
7. Regardless how well designed an airplane is, in the wrong pilot hands it will stall in unintentional situations. Imagine an unskilled pilot (not you) attempting to recover from a stall, but the pilot panics and hurries the stall-recovery process only to stall again. What best labels this subsequent stall?
a. Accelerated stall
b. Whip stall
c. Secondary stall
d. Spiral stall
8. Rate the pilot's response in this stall scenario: Slow-flying at a relatively low altitude in a Cessna, Cherokee, Cirrus or just about any other, common, general-aviation airplane, the pilot allows the wing to exceed its critical angle of attack and a stall results. The pilot's first reaction for stall recovery should be to add power in order to climb away from the ground.
a. Good idea
b. Not so good
9. Imagine this landing scenario: Poor planning, for whatever reason, causes the airplane to overshoot the turn from base leg to final approach less than a half-mile from the runway. You're off centerline, high, and a little fast, with full flaps and gear down. Assuming plenty of fuel, no emergency situation and VFR weather without nearby obstacles such as rising terrain off the runway's departure end, what, in your pilot opinion, is the best option to salvage this approach?
a. Go around.
b. Go around if ATC authorizes.
c. Slip.
10. Regardless how beautiful your airplane is or how well you know its makeup, before you fly you must navigate the tangled web of NOTAMs lest you be smitten by a FAR 91.103, which says in essence, "Thou shalt know all before flight." Cover your left eye and read this NOTAM: "Ailerona IA [IA66]: February NOTAM #99 issued by Fort Dodge IA [FOD] Aerodrome DEER on / INVOF runway…" What does INVOF mean? (You really don't need to cover your eye ...)
a. In and off
b. In vicinity of
c. In vehicle on final
d. In violation of
11. Bonus Survey Question: What's in your fantasy hangar? Time to stand up in your open cockpit (preferably not in flight) and tell the aviation world what you think is the prettiest aircraft ever built and flown. Twin Beech? P-51? Corsair? F-86? B-17? Lockheed Connie? Spitfire? Hawker Hurricane? Cub, Champ, Ercoupe? Single-engine, twin or even helicopter, what aircraft best embodies your notion of the physical poetry of flight? Feel free to share a line about how the fetching beauty in your flying life first caught your eye. Survey results and selected comments will be posted in a future Brainteaser quiz. Results will be argued in pilot lounges for decades.
a. Choose this answer, and then on the results page you'll have the opportunity to tell us about the airplane you consider to be most beautiful.
b. Please don't select this answer, even if you don't intend to write to us about a beautiful airplane. It is here for technical reasons, so that your final quiz score will be accurate.
Section=Answers
1. d
a. No. C'mon, insipience? Really? Please select another answer.
b. No, that isn't right. Please select another answer.
c. No, check the spelling and please select another answer.
d. Yes, angle of incidence. (FAA-H-8083-25A)
2. a
a. Yes, decalage is the acute angle between the chords of the upper and lower biplane wings. Positive decalage results when the upper wing's angle is higher than the lower wing's. The reverse is negative decalage. Cool word, decalage. It rolls off the tongue and will make everyone around the pilots lounge marvel at your newfound élan. Further wow the airport gang by explaining that SPAD stands for Société Pour L'Aviation et ses Dérivés (originally Société Provisoire des Aéroplanes Deperdussin). Here's more on decalage from NASA's History Office.
b. No, that's not the best answer. Please select another answer.
c. No, that's not the best answer. Please select another answer.
d. No, that's not the best answer. Please select another answer.
3. b
a. No, that isn't right. Please select another answer.
b. Yes, monocoque. The word comes from the Greek "mono" or "single" and the French "coque," meaning "shell." Many modern airframes are semimonocoque construction. (Pilots Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge, FAA-H-8083-25A, Ch. 2)
c. No, that's not it. Check the spelling and please choose another answer.
d. No, that's not it. Please choose another answer.
4. c
a. No, that isn't right. Please select another answer.
b. No, that's not it. Please choose another answer.
c. Yes, negative. Positive stagger results from the upper wing being forward of the lower.
d. No, that's not it. Please choose another answer.
5. b
a. No, that isn't it. Please select another answer.
b. Yes, rudder. "Hey!" some might protest. "Ailerons seem to work raising that lower wing! What gives?" Answering the next question (#6) correctly will explain why that seems to work in some cases, but here's the reason you should always use rudder to stop rotation in a stall or spin (from the Airplane Flying Handbook, FAA-H-8083-3A, Ch. 4):
"Using the ailerons requires finesse to avoid an aggravated stall condition. For example, if the right wing dropped during the stall and excessive aileron control were applied to the left to raise the wing, the aileron deflected downward (right wing) would produce a greater angle of attack (and drag), and possibly a more complete stall at the tip as the critical angle of attack is exceeded. The increase in drag created by the high angle of attack on that wing might cause the airplane to yaw in that direction. This adverse yaw could result in a spin unless directional control was maintained by rudder ..."
c. No, that's not it. Please choose another answer.
d. No, that's not it. Please choose another answer.
6. a
a. Yes, greater, incidence. Here's more from the Airplane Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-3A):
"Different types of airplanes have different stall characteristics. Most airplanes are designed so that the wings will stall progressively outward from the wing roots (where the wing attaches to the fuselage) to the wingtips. This is the result of designing the wings in a manner that the wingtips have less angle of incidence than the wing roots. Such a design feature causes the wingtips to have a smaller angle of attack than the wing roots during flight."
So-called "wingtip washout" allows the wing to stall first near the root, leaving the wingtips unstalled. This gives some aileron effectiveness when the airplane is in a stalled condition. Don't bet on ailerons to level the wings, though. Use your rudder!
b. No, that's not right. Please try another answer.
c. No, that isn't it. Please select another answer.
d. No, that isn't it. Please select another answer.
7. c
a. No, that isn't right. Please select another answer.
b. No, that isn't it. Please select another answer.
c. Yes, secondary stall. Logical name for a sloppy stall recovery that results in a second stall. Here's more from the Airplane Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-3A):
"This stall usually occurs when the pilot uses abrupt control input to return to straight-and-level flight after a stall or spin recovery. It also occurs when the pilot fails to reduce the angle of attack sufficiently during stall recovery by not lowering pitch attitude sufficiently, or by attempting to break the stall by using power only."
d. No, that isn't it. Please select another answer.
8. b
a. No, that isn't right. Please select another answer.
b. Yes, not so good. In fact, a bad idea. A stall is caused by excessive angle of attack, so the pilot's first step to recovery is to reduce the angle of attack. It's possible to be flying slowly with full flaps and full or near-full power ... such as when trying to drag in a wheezy old Cessna 172 with 40 degrees of flaps on a low base leg or final. In that ugly case, more power is not available. Reducing pitch cures stalls. Power gets you away from the ground after you've recovered from the stall. Granted the pitch, rudder, power, flaps, etc. sequence comes in quick succession, but pitch comes first. (Airplane Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-3A, Ch. 4)
9. a
a. Yes, go around. Yes, this is a subjective answer to a scenario that could have endless variables, but, face it, all pilot decisions are subjective. Unless your wheel pants are on fire, the go-around should be a briefed part of every landing, just as you would brief a missed approach for an instrument approach. Overshooting final can lead to uncoordinated, low-altitude turns back to final and could result in a disastrous and easily avoidable cross-controlled stall/spin scenario.
b. No, that's not right. A go-around decision should never be based on government authorization. You're the PIC, you decide. Tell the FAA to buy its own airplane. Please try another answer.
c. No, that's not it. Slipping while trying to crab-walk your way back to the final at low altitudes usually isn't so good. Please choose another answer.
10. b
a. No, that isn't right. Please select another answer.
b. Yes, in vicinity of. (From that FAA bestseller: JO 7340.2B Contractions)
c. No, that's not it. Please choose another answer.
d. No, that's not it. Please choose another answer.
11. a
a. Click here to enter your suggestion.
b. Please change your answer to a so that your score will be accurate.
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