July 14, 2005

Interactive Quiz #96:
More To Flight Than Wings and Wheels

Fixed-wing, land airplanes can be so restricting. So shuck those tires and bolt on some floats -- or trade your old airfoils for rotors -- to fly seaplanes and helicopters. First, though, a few terms.

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.

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1. At a busy southern California airport, you hear the tower controller tell a helicopter to "Air taxi to the ramp." The phrase "air taxi" means that (choose best answer) ...
a. The copter is a for-hire operation (Part 135 charter).
b. The copter must remain below 25 feet AGL and at or below 20 knots.
c. The copter should remain at or below 100 feet but speed is at pilot's discretion.
d. The copter pilot may not hover taxi.

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2. At this same airport as above, you hear a helicopter pilot request a "hover check" along an empty taxiway. The hover check is ...
a. A stabilized hover to conduct a performance/power check prior to hover taxi, air taxi, or takeoff.
b. A request for the control tower to check the copter's landing gear.
c. An in-flight copter refueling procedure.
d. Payment in advance for helicopter training.

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3. While conducting training in the traffic pattern, a helicopter instructor informs the control tower (Class D airspace) that the next approach will include an autorotative landing. The controller can expect the copter to ...
a. Land using its autopilot (Category IIa).
b. Automatically go-around before the skids contact the runway.
c. Automatically take off after the skids contact the runway.
d. The landing will be made without applying power to the rotor.
e. Crash.

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4. Airports with control towers divide their surface areas into movement and non-movement areas. Confusing terms those, because aircraft and vehicles move across both areas. The difference -- as far as ATC is concerned -- deals with control. The tower controls traffic on the movement areas (usually runways and taxiways) but not on the non-movement areas (FBO or military ramps and such). A helicopter pilot who calls the control tower for takeoff from a non-movement area may not be "cleared for takeoff" by the tower.
a. True
b. False

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5. Enough with the whirling things, already. Let's train for a useful rating -- seaplanes! OK, perhaps not useful in all locations but certainly fun and good training. Let's say you hold a private-pilot certificate for single-engine land airplanes. You enroll in Uncle Ricky's Summer Seaplane School in Cadillac, Mich., to get your seaplane rating. Upon successful completion of the checkride, you're presented with a temporary airman's certificate listing your seaplane rating. The date is September 15. In order to act as pilot-in-command of your new Husky A1B floatplane (that's what we'd get), your next flight review (FAR 61.56) will be due on or before ...
a. October 1, 24 months later.
b. September 30, 24 months later.
c. September 15, 24 months later.
d. 24 months from completion of your last flight review.

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6. Lucky for you, on the morning of your seaplane checkride the winds are calm and the water still ... almost, one might say, "glassy." In fact, seasoned seaplane pilots prefer glassy water to a watery surface with shallow waves because the smooth surface makes for smoother landings.
a. True
b. False

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7. While working your way through seaplane school, you hear more experienced seaplane students discussing the "step." As you clear the dessert plates from the upperclassmen's table, you glance outside at the school's Super Cub on floats (see first photo below). On floats, the seaplane pilot often sits a bit higher than on wheels, so you figure an extra step (see second photo below) is in order. Soon, though, you discover that the seaplane's "step" isn't a foothold, but instead is ...

	Super Cub on Floats
	"Did you know you were taxiing at 20 knots in a 15-knot zone?"

a. A specific speed at which a seaplane rotates.
b. A hull's (or float's) do-not-exceed angle of attack.
c. A break in the hull's (or float's) longitudinal lines where the seaplane rotates for lift-off attitude.
d. A slang term for a seaplane's maneuvering speed.

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8. Name the seaplane's three taxi-position attitudes (as per FAA 8083-3):
a. Idle, Plowing, Step or Planing
b. Idle, Placid, Step or Planing
c. Idle, Planing, Hydro-Planing
d. Idle, Normal, High-Speed

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9. While taxiing on water, the seaplane's water rudders are normally ...
a. Down for idle, Down for plow, Up for step taxiing or planing.
b. Up for idle, Up for placid, Down for step taxiing or planing.
c. Up for idle, Down for planing, Up for hydro-planing.
d. Down for idle, Down for normal, Down for high-speed.

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10. Centers of gravity and lift don't go out of fashion with seaplane flying. Now you need to meet their cousin, the center of buoyancy. Center of buoyancy shifts with your taxi-position attitude. Since you knew the answers to the previous two questions, you'll know that under normal conditions the center of buoyancy is furthest ...
a. Aft in high-speed taxi and forward in placid taxi.
b. Aft in hydro-palaning taxi and forward in normal taxi.
c. Aft in idle taxi and forward in normal taxi.
d. Aft in plow taxi and forward in step taxi.

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11. Bonus question: Who buys the beer if a seaplane student lands with the water rudders in the down position?
a. The student
b. The student
c. The student
d. The student
e. All of the above

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