Help me write 25 Aviation Trivia Questions!

"Casey Wilson" wrote in message
...
What's the most number of propeller (reciprocating) engines every mounted
on one airplane?

Ten

Donier Do.X

I think you should avoid "dead aviators" type questions, and make
the questions more relavent to your local area. And even though it
is a contest with some sort of prize, the primary goal should be to get
all the radio lisenters interested in the material. For example:

How many public-use airports are there in Iowa?
In what year did the Iowa City airport first open?
What type of aircraft was the first to land at the Iowa City airport?
How many aircraft are based at the Iowa City airport?
How many air (nautical) miles from Iowa City to First Flight Airport
at Kittyhawk?

Check into the history of your airport and find out if you have had
any famous visitors or interesting local aviation characters.

You could also use the questions to teach them a thing or two about
general aviation:

Why do aircraft pilots use nautical miles to measure distance?

Name three current manufacturers of general aviation aircraft.
(you could have lots of fun with variations: "Which of the following
companies does not build aircraft: Piper, Maule, Cirrus, Winchester")

Name the categories of aircraft defined by the FAA. (I would be that
even most pilots would leave out the recently-added "powered lift"
category)



Happy landings,
Ross Oliver

Seems like a good question will satisfy several criteria:

* possible for average person to answer
* not too obvious
* good flying P.R. properties

That means ones like "how many people were killed in the Canary
Islands in a famous airline disaster" are not optimal. Ditto ones on
the Hindenburg, atomic bombs, Dresden, etc.

How about "how many certificated pilots are there in the United
States?" Of course, you can tune the multiple-choices to make it
as hard or easy as you like. Hard: a) 427,000 b) 427,500 c) 427,501;
easy: a) 1 b) 1,000,000,000 c) 427,000. (By the way, I don't know
what the right answer is....).

Another one: what is the average distance from an airport in an
American metropolitan area (again, no idea, but it can't be more
than ten miles). An ever-popular one is "what is the proportion
of pilots in the state of Alaska." You could also ask that for your
state (Iowa, if I recall correctly).

You might ask some "ancient history of flight" ones. For
instance, "what German glider pilot inspired the Wright
brothers?" That one we all know the answer to--even me!
There's some claim that the ancient Egyptians flew gliders,
so you could ask a question like "what is the oldest heavier-than-air
flying machine proposed?" or something like that, possibly
being prepared to accept the legend of Icarus if you're feeling
generous. There's also a proposal that the builders of the
Nasca lines used hot-air balloons to observe the construction
(I don't buy it, but you don't need a verified fact for an interesting
question).

Some simple technology-of-flight questions might be good,
too, e.g., "the control surface that makes an airplane dive and
climb is a) the escalator b) the elevator c) the estimator."
"General aviation aircraft are ____ than airliners a) more convenient
b) more fun c) more comfortable d) all of the above."

Have to work in a Zeppelin question, maybe something along the
lines of "what was the first luxury air service between Europe
and South America" or when (I think it was 1934 but have to look
it up....).

I'm really good at asking questions, I just don't know any of the
answers.... Good luck with your contest--it sounds like fun.

Regards,

Mike Beede

IIRC Bell and his Aerial Experiment Association along with Glenn Curtiss
developed ailerons in an attempt to keep Curtiss out of continueing lawsuits
with the Wrights.
--
Jim Burns III

Remove "nospam" to reply

"Bob Fry" wrote in message
...
"Jim" writes:

Alexander Graham Bell not only invented the telephone, but the modern
day
aircraft bank control surfaces called ailerons

I thought that was Glenn Martin.

I was hopeing someone would have it, but from what I saw on the Wings
channel about the study of the radio transmisions that it wasn't far. IIRC
Noonan set up a laddered grid search for the island and would have saw it
after only a few more passes, so I"m guessing maybe 10 to 15 miles.
--
Jim Burns III

Remove "nospam" to reply

"Tom Fleischman" wrote in message
rthlink.net...
In article , Jim
wrote:

and how far were Noonan and Earhart from the island they intended to
land on
when they made their last radio transmition?

Answer??

"Mike O'Malley" wrote in message
...
"Casey Wilson" wrote in message
...
What's the most number of propeller (reciprocating) engines every
mounted
on one airplane?

Ten

Donier Do.X

BZZZZT! Wrong answer, call back again some day.

How about "Where is the oldest airport, located at its original site, west
of the Mississippi?"


"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:QL0Bb.269543$Dw6.917079@attbi_s02...
I need some suggestions for aviation trivia questions, pronto! Who better
but you guys and gals to ask, no? :-)

Why? We've decided to do a month-long radio contest in January, on our
most
popular local radio station, promoting our aviation theme inn. It's going
to be called "the '100th Anniversary of Flight Trivia Contest', sponsored
by
the Alexis Park Inn & Suites", and will run every day at prime "drive
time".
Daily winners will each receive a FREE night in one of our aviation theme
suites. (It'll be something along the lines of "the tenth correct caller
wins...)

Thus, every day, for 25 days, the announcer will ask a different aviation
trivia question that must be (a) interesting to the non-flying public, (b)
hard enough to weed out the riff-raff, and (c) easy enough so that someone
can actually win! Ideally, the questions should relate to the theme of
our suites in some way...

So, have at it! No one knows aviation trivia like you guys, so fling some
questions at me! (And answers would be good, too? :-)

Thanks!
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

"EDR" wrote in message
...

Wasn't the B-25 a medium bomber?


Yes, the B-25 was classed as a medium bomber by the Army. But they were
certainly heavy in comparison to anything else that had been launched from
an aircraft carrier. I believe the word "heavy" was used here in that
sense.

What did Lindbergh eat on his flight across the Atlantic.

Well? (I thought it was a sandwich?)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

"Nick" wrote in message
...

What's the first letter in the aircraft tail number for all US aircraft ?
(wish I had been on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire that day)


Better make that all US civil aircraft.