How high can you fly a Cessna 172?

[Victor]

How high do you normally fly a Cessna 172. Have only been flying on
sea level airport and now will be flying on airports at aprox 7500' .
To get from one place to the other I might have to climb to 12500'. Do
you think that a 172 is able to do that?

[Andrew Sarangan]

(Victor) wrote in news:c82ad113.0404081949.3254aa79
@posting.google.com:

> How high do you normally fly a Cessna 172. Have only been flying on
> sea level airport and now will be flying on airports at aprox 7500' .
> To get from one place to the other I might have to climb to 12500'. Do
> you think that a 172 is able to do that?
>

Depends on the density altitude. I've flown them as high as 13500', and I
figure the density altitude was about 16000'.

[Bob Gardner]

Got a manual for the 172? My 172P book says on page ii (first page in the
book) that the service ceiling is 13000 feet. In the Performance section,
the Max Rate of Climb Graph shows a climb rate of 175 fpm at 12000 feet
and -20 C.

Bob Gardner

"Victor" > wrote in message
om...
> How high do you normally fly a Cessna 172. Have only been flying on
> sea level airport and now will be flying on airports at aprox 7500' .
> To get from one place to the other I might have to climb to 12500'. Do
> you think that a 172 is able to do that?

[Jim Weir]

I guess the statute of limitations has run out after 30 years so...

coming home from El Centro to San Diego one fine summer afternoon, I got the
roller coaster ride of all time. I usually did that stretch at 6.5K coming
home, but wasn't particularly watching the altimeter until I noticed the cars
getting AWFULLY small. Then I noticed the VSI pegged against the 2K pin up and
the altimeter looking more like the sweep second hand on a clock.

It was well past 10K when I first noticed it, so figured I had to have been in
it for 5 minutes or so. Pulled all power off and put it way up near the yellow
arc and was STILL pegged at 2K up. The wave finally let me go at 19.5K. That's
got to be a record of some sort for a 172 (1964 E model). It was one hell of a
fast ride home coming down, I'll tell you.

As to the 12,500 figure, we used to use that number all the time with two of us
going to Oshkosh with baggage. All the way from Sacramento to Scottsbluff at
11.5, and 12.5 coming home.

Jim




->"Victor" > wrote in message
om...
->> How high do you normally fly a Cessna 172.
->

Jim Weir (A&P/IA, CFI, & other good alphabet soup)
VP Eng RST Pres. Cyberchapter EAA Tech. Counselor
http://www.rst-engr.com

[ilsub]

Andrew Sarangan > wrote in message >...
> (Victor) wrote in news:c82ad113.0404081949.3254aa79
> @posting.google.com:
>
> > How high do you normally fly a Cessna 172. Have only been flying on
> > sea level airport and now will be flying on airports at aprox 7500' .
> > To get from one place to the other I might have to climb to 12500'. Do
> > you think that a 172 is able to do that?
> >
>
> Depends on the density altitude. I've flown them as high as 13500', and I
> figure the density altitude was about 16000'.

Were you using oxygen?
Just curious. I never have even seen one.

[Dan Thomas]

(Victor) wrote in message >...
> How high do you normally fly a Cessna 172. Have only been flying on
> sea level airport and now will be flying on airports at aprox 7500' .
> To get from one place to the other I might have to climb to 12500'. Do
> you think that a 172 is able to do that?

Gonna take a long time to get to 12500, especially if the
weather is warm. Some 172s won't even make it if the engine is a bit
tired or the prop hasn't been maintained properly. You'd better do
some figuring with the POH before landing at a 7500' high airport, or
you might find that you can't take off again in the distance
available.

Dan

[Andrew Sarangan]

(ilsub) wrote in
om:

> Andrew Sarangan > wrote in message
> >...
>> (Victor) wrote in
>> news:c82ad113.0404081949.3254aa79 @posting.google.com:
>>
>> > How high do you normally fly a Cessna 172. Have only been flying
>> > on sea level airport and now will be flying on airports at aprox
>> > 7500' . To get from one place to the other I might have to climb to
>> > 12500'. Do you think that a 172 is able to do that?
>> >
>>
>> Depends on the density altitude. I've flown them as high as 13500',
>> and I figure the density altitude was about 16000'.
>
> Were you using oxygen?
> Just curious. I never have even seen one.

You can fly for 30 mins without oxygen between 12.5k and 14k. Above 14k
you need oxygen. We climb to 13.5k only for brief periods in order to
cross the mountains. While the aircraft performance is based on density
altitude, human performance is based on pressure altitude. If you are not
accustomed to high altitudes (ie you lived most of your life at sea
level) you may want to exercise some judgement before flying at higher
altitudes.

[Rosspilot]

Depends on WHICH 172 . . . my 145 hp Cont O-300 ('67) struggles to get to
12,000 . . . it takes a while and rate of climb drops to less than 100 fpm. My
cousin's '74, w/ 160 HP can get there a lot quicker.

www.Rosspilot.com

[smackey]

A few months ago I tried to see how high I could go. My plane is a
C172 with 180hp Airplains conversion. Just my wife and me aboard. I
was still climbing at 15,750 msl, but quit since I then needed to
descend at a reasonable rate to land. Nice cool day here in
southcentral Montana. I was still getting a reliable 200'/min climb.

[Newps]

smackey wrote:

> A few months ago I tried to see how high I could go. My plane is a
> C172 with 180hp Airplains conversion. Just my wife and me aboard. I
> was still climbing at 15,750 msl, but quit since I then needed to
> descend at a reasonable rate to land. Nice cool day here in
> southcentral Montana. I was still getting a reliable 200'/min climb.

When you gonna get a real hangar and stop letting Corporate Air leave
your plane out all day?

[smackey]

Newps > wrote in message news:<bZIdc.2682$rg5.27865@attbi_s52>...
> smackey wrote:
>
> > A few months ago I tried to see how high I could go. My plane is a
> > C172 with 180hp Airplains conversion. Just my wife and me aboard. I
> > was still climbing at 15,750 msl, but quit since I then needed to
> > descend at a reasonable rate to land. Nice cool day here in
> > southcentral Montana. I was still getting a reliable 200'/min climb.
>
> When you gonna get a real hangar and stop letting Corporate Air leave
> your plane out all day?

Didn't know they (Edwards, actually) were doing that!! I would really
like to know about it if/when it happens. I call them on my cell
phone when I land, and ask them to put it away, which they say they
will do right away.

[Newps]

smackey wrote:


> Didn't know they (Edwards, actually) were doing that!! I would really
> like to know about it if/when it happens. I call them on my cell
> phone when I land, and ask them to put it away, which they say they
> will do right away.

If you are in the front of the hangar and somebody else wants to fly
your plane gets dragged out. Sometimes it will sit on the ramp for
hours before they put it away. Often it will sit for hours after you
leave before they put it back in the hangar. Call Steve at Aerotronics,
many spots available in their 60x60's on the west end.