PILOT BRIEFING TEST PILOT | BY BARRY SCHIFF 1. True or false? A pilot notices a shooting star during a night flight and is aware that it could be a clump of excrement. 2. How do British pilots refer to an airplane's control stick? 4. True or false? The Vought F4U Corsair of World War II fame has a gull wing. 40 | 6. A piston-powered airplane and a fanjetpowered airplane are being operated under Part 91 of the Federal Aviation Regulations. According to regulation, the piston engine _____ be overhauled when it reaches TBO (time between overhaul), and the fanjet engine _____ be overhauled when it reaches TBO. A. does not have to, must B. does not have to, does not have to C. must, must D. must, does not have to 7. During cruise flight a pilot is approaching a flock of birds at his altitude. The safest procedure (for the airplane and for the birds) is to A. descend. B. climb. C. maintain altitude. D. turn right (Northern Hemisphere only). ANSWERS on page 48 JOHN HOLMS 3. From reader John Schmidt: A 50,000pound block of ice-possibly the heaviest single payload ever transported by helicopter-was lifted from the Siberian tundra to a laboratory in Khatanga, Taymyr, Russia. What was so important about this block of ice that carrying it jeopardized the structural integrity of the Mil Mi-26 helicopter carrying it? 5. From reader Bill Havener: Who was the first pilot to perform an outside loop-a maneuver that had previously been considered unsurvivable?http://www.searey.com http://www.searey.com