Q 01/05

What supplies the lift and thrust for a helicopter?

A) Vertically mounted turbofans

B) Horizontally spinning rotors

C) Fixed wings and a propeller

D) Ducted jet exhaust nozzles

Answer · why

B) Horizontally spinning rotors

That is what lets it take off and land vertically, hover, and fly backwards and sideways where fixed-wing aircraft cannot.

Q 02/05

From which language does the word 'helicopter' come?

A) Latin

B) German

C) Italian

D) French

Answer · why

D) French

Gustave Ponton d'Amécourt coined hélicoptère in 1861 from the Greek helix (spiral) and pteron (wing).

Q 03/05

Which two Greek roots make up the word 'helicopter'?

A) Helix and kopto (spiral and cut)

B) Helios and pteron (sun and wing)

C) Helix and pteron (spiral and wing)

D) Helios and kopto (sun and cut)

Answer · why

C) Helix and pteron (spiral and wing)

English speakers rebracketed it as heli- and -copter, which is why we say helipad and quadcopter.

Q 04/05

What is the common US military slang for a helicopter?

A) Rotor

B) Bird

C) Hopper

D) Helo

Answer · why

D) Helo

Civilian nicknames include chopper, copter, heli and whirlybird.

Q 05/05

Which was the first successful, practical and fully controllable helicopter, in 1936?

A) Sikorsky R-4

B) Flettner Fl 265

C) Focke-Wulf Fw 61

D) Breguet-Dorand Gyroplane

Answer · why

C) Focke-Wulf Fw 61

Hanna Reitsch famously demonstrated it indoors at Berlin's Deutschlandhalle in February 1938.