Army Aviation Information Test, helicopter first

With the OH-58D retired, which Army helicopter now performs both attack and armed reconnaissance?

1. AH-64E Apache
   After the OH-58D retired in 2017, Apaches teamed with unmanned aircraft took over armed reconnaissance.
2. UH-60M Black Hawk
   The "U" means utility: the Black Hawk moves troops and cargo, not attack missions.
3. AH-1Z Viper
   The Viper is a Marine Corps attack helicopter; the Army does not fly it.
4. UH-72A Lakota
   The Lakota is a light utility helicopter used for training and support, not for attack or armed reconnaissance.

ID 924264 · Report a problem

What type of engine powers Army helicopters such as the UH-60 and AH-64?

1. Turboprop
   A turboprop drives a propeller through a reduction gearbox on airplanes such as the C-130.
2. Turbofan
   A turbofan produces thrust from a ducted fan and jet exhaust, as on airliners and fighters.
3. Reciprocating
   Piston engines power small training helicopters, not the UH-60 or AH-64.
4. Turboshaft
   A turboshaft delivers its power as shaft torque to the transmission, which turns the rotors.

ID 924266 · Report a problem

Right after an engine failure in cruise, the pilot's FIRST control action to enter autorotation is to –

1. Apply left pedal
   With torque gone, the nose yaws left, so the pilot needs right pedal, not left.
2. Lower the collective
   Lowering collective at once flattens blade pitch so the upward airflow can keep the rotor turning.
3. Raise the collective
   Raising collective adds drag and bleeds rotor rpm quickly when no engine power is driving it.
4. Push the cyclic forward
   Forward cyclic would dive the aircraft; aft cyclic is usually needed to hold airspeed after the collective goes down.

ID 924268 · Report a problem

Effective translational lift (ETL) is typically felt as the helicopter accelerates through about –

1. 35–45 knots
   By this speed the rotor has long since flown out of its own downwash.
2. 60–70 knots
   This is a typical cruise or best-rate-of-climb range, far past ETL.
3. 5–10 knots
   Translational lift begins at low speed, but the clear "effective" point comes later.
4. 16–24 knots
   The FAA Helicopter Flying Handbook places effective translational lift at about 16–24 knots.

ID 924333 · Report a problem

In a helicopter's hydraulic flight-control system, the accumulator mainly –

1. Pumps fluid to the servos
   The pump creates the pressure; the accumulator only stores some of it.
2. Cools the returning fluid
   Cooling is done by the reservoir or a cooler, not the accumulator.
3. Stores pressure for backup
   The accumulator holds fluid under pressure, damps surges and can move the servos briefly if the pump fails.
4. Filters the fluid
   Filtering the fluid is the filter's job, not the accumulator's.

ID 924337 · Report a problem

Main rotor blades are built with twist (more pitch at the root than at the tip) mainly to –

1. Raise the rotational tip speed
   Tip speed depends on rotor rpm and radius, not on twist.
2. Even out lift along the span
   Tips move faster than roots, so twist gives the slower root more pitch and spreads lift more evenly.
3. Reduce the weight of the blade
   Twist changes the blade's shape, not its weight.
4. Prevent lead-lag blade motion
   Lead-lag is handled by hinges and dampers, not by twist.

ID 924341 · Report a problem

A helicopter with a counter-clockwise main rotor (viewed from above) tends to drift right in a hover. Designers commonly counter this by –

1. Tilting the mast slightly left
   The tail rotor pushes the helicopter right; rigging the mast left tilts rotor thrust to cancel that drift.
2. Tilting the mast slightly right
   Tilting right would add to the rightward drift.
3. Enlarging the vertical fin
   A fin helps in forward flight; it has little effect at a hover.
4. Lowering tail rotor rpm
   Tail rotor rpm is tied to main rotor rpm; lowering it would cost the anti-torque control the pilot needs.

ID 924347 · Report a problem

An empty helicopter weighs 5,000 lb with its CG at 100 in. Two soldiers totaling 400 lb board at arm 60 in. The new CG is about –

1. 80.0 in
   80 in averages the two arms (100 and 60) without weighting them by 5,000 and 400 lb.
2. 97.0 in
   (5,000 × 100 + 400 × 60) ÷ 5,400 = 524,000 ÷ 5,400 ≈ 97.0 in; weight ahead of the CG moves it forward.
3. 100.0 in
   100 in assumes the CG does not move, ignoring the new weight's moment.
4. 104.8 in
   104.8 in moves the CG aft, as if the 400 lb sat behind it; the arm of 60 in is ahead.

ID 924349 · Report a problem

A rotor's blade tips move at 400 knots. In 100-knot forward flight, the advancing and retreating blade tips meet the air at –

1. 400 and 400 knots
   This ignores forward flight; it is true only in a no-wind hover.
2. 450 and 350 knots
   This splits the forward speed in half between the two sides.
3. 500 and 300 knots
   The advancing tip adds the 100-knot forward speed (400 + 100); the retreating tip loses it (400 − 100).
4. 500 and 400 knots
   This adds the forward speed to one side but forgets to subtract it on the other.

ID 924351 · Report a problem

Which sequence correctly traces a cyclic input from the controls to the main rotor blades?

1. Stationary swashplate, rotating swashplate, pitch links
   Control inputs tilt the stationary plate, the rotating plate follows it, and pitch links change each blade's pitch.
2. Pitch links, stationary swashplate, rotating swashplate
   Pitch links are at the blade end of the chain, not the control end.
3. Stationary swashplate, pitch links, rotating swashplate
   Pitch links connect the rotating plate to the blades, so they must come last.
4. Rotating swashplate, stationary swashplate, pitch links
   The non-rotating controls can only connect to the stationary plate, which comes first.

ID 924438 · Report a problem

As the main rotor blades cone upward, their center of mass moves closer to the mast. Rotor rpm will tend to –

1. Stay constant
   Angular momentum is kept, so a smaller radius must give faster rotation.
2. Increase
   Mass moving toward the mast makes the rotor spin faster (Coriolis effect), as a skater does when pulling in the arms.
3. Drop, then recover
   Nothing makes the rpm drop first; the change is a rise.
4. Decrease
   The rpm would decrease if the blades moved outward, away from the mast.

ID 924441 · Report a problem

A helicopter's never-exceed speed (VNE) is often lower at high density altitude mainly because –

1. The engine reaches its temperature limit
   Engine limits cap power available, not the never-exceed speed.
2. Ground effect grows weaker
   Ground effect matters only near the surface, not at VNE.
3. Translational lift is lost
   Translational lift grows with airspeed; it is not lost at high speed.
4. Retreating blades stall sooner
   In thin air the retreating blade needs a higher angle of attack, so it stalls at a lower forward speed.

ID 924445 · Report a problem

A helicopter's stability augmentation system (SAS) mainly –

1. Holds rotor rpm constant
   Rotor rpm is held by the engine governor or FADEC.
2. Holds a selected altitude
   Altitude hold is an autopilot function.
3. Relieves stick forces
   Relieving steady stick forces is the job of force trim.
4. Damps short attitude upsets
   The stability augmentation system makes small, quick servo inputs that damp gusts and brief attitude changes.

ID 924446 · Report a problem

Which anti-torque system uses a multi-blade fan enclosed in a duct inside the vertical fin?

1. NOTAR
   NOTAR has no tail fan; it blows air out of slots in the boom and through a tail thruster.
2. Fenestron
   A Fenestron is a multi-blade fan enclosed in a duct built into the vertical fin.
3. Conventional tail rotor
   A conventional tail rotor is open, with two or more exposed blades.
4. Coaxial rotor
   Coaxial designs cancel torque with two counter-rotating main rotors and need no tail rotor.

ID 924447 · Report a problem

The Wright brothers made their first powered, controlled flights in December 1903 near ____.

1. Fort Myer, Virginia
   Fort Myer hosted the 1908 Army acceptance trials of the Wright Flyer.
2. Hammondsport, New York
   Hammondsport was Glenn Curtiss's home base, not the Wrights'.
3. Kitty Hawk, North Carolina
   The flights of 17 December 1903 were made at Kill Devil Hills near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
4. Huffman Prairie, Dayton, Ohio
   Huffman Prairie is where the Wrights refined their airplane in 1904–05, after the first flights.

ID 812977 · Report a problem

ATC instructs a pilot to 'squawk ident.' What should the pilot do?

1. Say "ident" and the altitude by radio
   A spoken reply is not what "ident" asks for; it is a button on the transponder.
2. Set the code to 7700
   7700 is the emergency code; ATC would never ask for it with "squawk ident."
3. Switch the transponder to standby
   Standby stops the replies, the opposite of making the target stand out.
4. Press the IDENT button
   "Squawk ident" asks the pilot to push IDENT, which highlights the target on the controller's screen.

ID 813181 · Report a problem

The static port becomes blocked in level flight, and the aircraft then descends. The altimeter will ____.

1. Keep showing the same altitude
   With the static port blocked, the trapped pressure never changes, so the altimeter keeps showing the altitude where the port iced over.
2. Unwind toward zero feet
   Unwinding needs rising pressure in the case, but the case pressure is sealed.
3. Show the descent normally
   The altimeter needs changing static pressure to move, and the blockage cuts it off.
4. Read lower than the aircraft's true altitude
   After a descent the frozen reading is higher than the true altitude, not lower.

ID 813188 · Report a problem

During a multi-engine takeoff, an engine fails just after the aircraft passes V1. The crew should normally ____.

1. Reject the takeoff
   Rejecting the takeoff is planned only for failures before V1; past V1 the remaining runway may not stop the aircraft.
2. Continue only if already airborne
   The aircraft is usually still on the runway just after V1; the rule is to continue anyway.
3. Continue the takeoff
   V1 is the decision speed: past it the remaining runway may not stop the aircraft, so the crew continues.
4. Reject if still below rotation speed
   Rotation speed (VR) comes after V1; being below VR does not reopen the stop option.

ID 813191 · Report a problem