Q 01/05

What colour are aircraft flight recorders, the so-called black boxes, painted to make them easier to find?

A) Matt black

B) Bright orange

C) Fluorescent yellow

D) Signal red

Answer · why

B) Bright orange

Bright orange paint makes the recorders stand out in wreckage, and an underwater locator beacon pings to guide searchers if an aircraft goes down at s...

Q 02/05

What did Orville and Wilbur Wright repair, sell and manufacture in Dayton, Ohio, before they built aircraft?

A) Clocks

B) Carriages

C) Bicycles

D) Typewriters

Answer · why

C) Bicycles

Bicycles left their mark on the 1903 Flyer, whose propellers were turned by chains like a cycle's. Wilbur hit on twisting the wings for control while ...

Q 03/05

What are the long white contrails that form behind high-flying jet airliners mainly made of?

A) Unburned fuel

B) Engine soot

C) Carbon dioxide

D) Ice crystals

Answer · why

D) Ice crystals

Ice crystals form when water vapour in the engine exhaust freezes in the bitter cold of cruising altitude, which makes a contrail a long, thin artific...

Q 04/05

Which gas are airliner tyres filled with instead of ordinary air, cutting the risk of an explosion if they overheat?

A) Nitrogen

B) Helium

C) Pure oxygen

D) Krypton

Answer · why

A) Nitrogen

Nitrogen is inert, so it cannot feed a fire. Regulators required it after oxygen in air-filled tyres reacted with gases given off by overheated rubber...

Q 05/05

Which of Isaac Newton's laws explains how a rocket is pushed forward by gas rushing out behind it?

A) The first law

B) The second law

C) The third law

D) The law of gravitation

Answer · why

C) The third law

The third law pairs every action with an equal and opposite reaction, so a rocket needs nothing to push against and works even in the vacuum of space.