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Pop-Rivet Quiz!
TEST 3
Be forewared: The first three are toughies, even if youīre a Helo Jock! If youīre not into whillybirds, you may want to skip TEST 3. No? We knew you werenīt a sissy!
Subject: On dynamic rollover angle in R-22's:
1. How precipitous a hill can a Robinson R-22 helicopter land on, sideways along the slope, without rolling over and balling up? What are those angles; first, with full opposite cyclic, AND second with no compensation at all?
A) 35 degrees, 25 degrees
B) 42 degrees, 29 degrees
C) 22 degrees, 14 degrees
D) 15 degrees, 6 degrees
Subject: On autorotation in a Robinson R-22
2. How long do you have to enter autorotation after an engine failure in an R-22?
A) a little over one second, or you're history
B) just under four seconds at minimum power speed of 60 knots
C) six seconds at 60 knots, eight at 85 knots
D) Hey, no sweat! There's a HUGE moment of inertia swinging around up there at a few hundred miles an hour, and you have about 10 seconds while you slowly and gently sink back to earth.
Subject: R-22 gear ratio. I promise--the last one on helicopters! (THIS month)
15. What do a toilet and the gearbox of an R-22 have in common?
A) The shape of the gearbox, viewed from the side, does
tend to have a familiar silhouette...
B) The gear ratio is 47:11, which coincidentally is the number of the famous perfumed water that Napoleon was said to have used: Koinisch Wasser 4711.
C) They both use a hydraulic jump to aid fluid flow within
their respective internal constrictions.
D) You can see the contents of both. In the case of the gearbox, there's actually a window to view the fluid level.
Subject: Inorganic chemistry. Lithium. (Why? No, not because itīs my medication, but because it's the lightest metal. You remember, itīs the reason birds, the first living things to fly, have hollow wings.)
4. Lithium is the lightest metal--much lighter even than magnesium. It's extremely light (though not quite buoyant), with an atomic number of just THREE--the next lightest element being helium! So why don't they make aircraft parts out of it?
A) It isn't strong enough. With the tensile strength approaching halvah, or maybe torrone, anything made of it would collapse on itself under its own weight.
B) It's too expensive. Aside from being the lightest solid element (and paradoxically having the highest specific heat of any solid), it's just too dear even to make airplanes out of (though it IS alloyed with other metals).
C) Being an alkalai metal, it's extremely reactive--like, with water. As soon as you flew into rain, your entire airplane would explode.
D) all three
Subject: More on prohibited airspace: in downtown Washington DC
5. How old is the block of special use airspace in downtown Washington DC which is known affectionately as P-56?
A) Ancient. It was established by Congress on December 18, 1903.
B) Nah, not THAT old. But it IS old. It's been around since just after World War I, though it has changed shape somewhat. It used to cover just from the White House to the Capitol building, and also included the US Naval Hospital (before it was moved to Bethesda MD).
C) C'mon! It's STILL not THAT old! P-56A was initially set up under an Executive Order in June of 1938. P-56B (the Naval Observatory and the Vice President's residence) was established in May of 1950.
D) It was initially established in January of 1959.
Subject: P-56 again--from a different angle
6. About what percent of violations of P-56 are GA aircraft?
A) About half of all recent violations have involved corporate & air carriers.
B) 99 percent of 'em are those gol-dang wild Indian puddle jumpers!
C) The information is classified and has not been released to the public.
D) 20%. Air America has a route over the Mall at 16,000 feet, which is technically below the top of it (which is FL 180). Whenever there's a notice from the CIA, they look the other way.
Is the earth REALLY flat? Just a little bit?
7. How "flat" IS the earth?
A) Actually, friction with the earth's atmosphere over eons of time and the greater moisture at lower latitudes has caused more erosion--the end result of which is that the earth has actually gotten "skinnier", (equatorial diameter less than that between the poles), not flatter and fatter!
B) just one 13,000th: the distance between the poles is about 1600 feet less than the equatorial diameter.
C) Flat as a pancake. Yessiree. All this orbit stuff's a big hoax.
D) Even solid rock has some give when 24 sextillion tons are being rotated around at a few hundred knots. The "flattening factor" is one 297th. To a rough approximation, we are flying around over an oblate spheroid, not just a sphere!
Next question: Coriolis force. Once and for ALL dammit, I want to debunk this "clockwise bathtub whirlpool in the Northern hemisphere" crap--that is, to explain what it IS, and what it ISN'T.
8. Does a bathtub REALLY drain clockwise in the Northernhemisphere, and counter-clockwise down under?
A) Absolutely. I saw it on the web. (Sinks work better, though.)
B) Coriolis force can be apparent on smaller scales only when there are absolutely no currents or internal eddies within the body of fluid. If you let the tub settle for about an hour or so, then could somehow make the plug vanish without causing any disturbance, yes it would drain clockwise in the Northern hemisphere and the other way in Southern latitudes.
C) No. It's a myth. You'd need a bathtub the size of a stadium.
D) Actually, in a totally stable fluid body, there IS no spiral motion towards any opening at the bottom.
Now for one on GPS
9. What change in GPS would triple the accuracy available to the "user segment", but has been dropped by the Air Force?
A) End-of-week rollover errors caused too many problems with the computer, so my Uncle Al wrote a letter to the President and Bill said "OK, we won't need it, anyway."
B) Huh?
C) Crosslink. The GPS IIF "follow on" series (not to be launched for a few more years) was originally supposed to have the ability to relay nav updates to the "control segment" via relay vehicles, which would have greatly reduced the "age of data" (from a day to three hours or so) of each constellation vehicle's OWN position, and thus would improve signal accuracy to the user. Alas, it's not to be. The Air Force dropped it from their specs due to funding cutbacks.
D) Huh?
Here's one that's worth a few shekels
10. If your airport happens to be one of those where the ol' fuel truck comes over to your hangar or tiedown spot, rather than having a pump that one must taxi up to, how might you save a few cents each time you get a top-off?
A) Be sure to tell them NOT to top it off. (This applies also if you've got a bolted-down gas pump, and you're pumping it yourself.) With some line crew personnel, sometimes they're not to dainty with that hose and you can get an "oops" runover, all over your nicely waxed airplane, and some not-so-nice OSHA-unfriendly impromptu weed killer/insecticide, all over the ground. But mainly, gasoline (car
or plane) expands with warming, and unless there's room for expansion, guess where it's going to go if it warms up? Right out the overflow vent! (unless of course you go fly right away)
B) Right after they're done pumping, the meter will read X-point-Y gallons. The line guy writes it up, and hands you the receipt. But then he rolls the hose back up, which causes some flattening on the spool, and it's not unusual for about a tenth of a gallon to get squeezed right back into the truck. That's almost two bits' worth (these days) that you might have paid for, but didn't get. The meter, if it's working, would actually run backwards and show this, by the way.
C) If it's spring or summer, get your tigers in the morning, when the gas isn't as warmed up from the sun's heat--and is more dense. The meter doesn't measure molar volume, y'know--it just counts gallons. This does not apply so much to the fixed pump scenario if they've still got those underground tanks. But those are going by the wayside. And see "A"!
D) A, B, and C
11. Under what circumstances is water lighter than air?
A) Under conditions of extreme pressure, water will compress ever so slightly. Air however will compress until it is a liquid, and at a pressure of 610 atmospheres, it has a specific gravity greater than one.
B) When it's water vapor.
C) Inside a waterspout, the extreme low pressure actually causes water to
exist in a quasi-gaseous state where, although technically still a liquid, its
specific gravity becomes about one ten-thousandth that of liquid water on the surface---about ten times lighter than air!
D) Don't be ridiculous. Water is NEVER lighter than air!
Answers
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