10,500 feet is way the heck up there!

I've spent a fair number of hours droning along at 10,500 feet in the
MidWest. (For you mountain-flyer-types that think 10.5 K is LOW, that
altitude is a lot different here in Iowa, cuz it puts you almost two miles
above Mother Earth.) It's usually quite boring, and is something I
normally do only en route.

However, I've never actually maintained that altitude *over* an area I was
familiar with. This past weekend we were on our way back from leaf-peeping
in Wisconsin, and the visibility was just stunning -- crystal clear, azure
blue skies, with no humidity and temperatures in the upper 60s -- so it
seemed like a perfect time to get some aerial photos of Iowa City.

(I've been trying for some time to get a picture for our website that had
enough scale to show the whole area, and our position in it -- but have just
never had the right opportunity.)

A few things I discovered:

1. Two miles up is actually TOO high for good photography with a standard
Canon Elph digital camera. The pictures I found to be best were taken
around 8,000 feet as we slowly spiraled down to land.

2. The kids thought it was great! With hundreds of hours in the air over
the last nine years, my kids are old pros that only rarely look out the
windows anymore. At 10.5K over familiar territory, however, they were like
newbie passengers again, squealing and pointing. We were all amazed at what
we could see.

3. Spiraling down from 2 miles over the airport takes a LONG time! I tried
to maintain a nice, easy 300 - 400 fpm descent, which meant circling the
airport for twenty minutes in order to land!

4. It was fun watching the landing pattern from a "God's Eye" point of
view.

It's not something you would normally think of doing, but if you get a
chance viewing your home turf from WAY up high is kinda fun!

(And you can take a peek at the picture I selected for our opening webpage
at www.AlexisParkInn.com. It's really shows our position relative to the
airport and other important local attractions. For our potential guests,
this picture really is worth a thousand words...)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

And you can take a peek at the picture I selected for our opening webpage

Nice, Jay . . .


www.Rosspilot.com

In article 53_ib.777467$uu5.134981@sccrnsc04,
"Jay Honeck" wrote:

I've spent a fair number of hours droning along at 10,500 feet in the
MidWest. (For you mountain-flyer-types that think 10.5 K is LOW, that
altitude is a lot different here in Iowa, cuz it puts you almost two miles
above Mother Earth.) It's usually quite boring, and is something I
normally do only en route.

However, I've never actually maintained that altitude *over* an area I was
familiar with. This past weekend we were on our way back from leaf-peeping
in Wisconsin, and the visibility was just stunning -- crystal clear, azure
blue skies, with no humidity and temperatures in the upper 60s -- so it
seemed like a perfect time to get some aerial photos of Iowa City.


hehe

I drive the 206 to 13,000 many times each weekend, sometimes 20+ loads
per day, and never get tired of the view. To the south is Knik Arm and
Anchorage, to the northwest is Mt McKinley and Mt Foraker and to the
east is Knik Glacier.

I come down a little faster than you though, normally around
3000-3500fpm. G

--
Dale L. Falk

There is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing
as simply messing around with airplanes.

http://home.gci.net/~sncdfalk/flying.html

I come down a little faster than you though, normally around
3000-3500fpm. G

Crikey!

Don't your ears bother you?
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Nice, Jay . . .

Thanks, Lee. While I was up there I was wishing that I had your camera,
windows that open, and expertise.

Considering I had NONE of those, I think the pix came out okay... :-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

In article 9I_ib.130302$%h1.131919@sccrnsc02,
Jay Honeck wrote:

Don't your ears bother you?

One thing I noticed when I started flying was that my ears stopped popping
after about 20 hours. I thought it was normal to get acclimated, but when
I mentioned it to some other local pilots they said they all still have
to clear their ears.

Benefits of a big head, I guess. ;-)

--
Ben Jackson

http://www.ben.com/

Don't your ears bother you?

One thing I noticed when I started flying was that my ears stopped popping
after about 20 hours. I thought it was normal to get acclimated, but when
I mentioned it to some other local pilots they said they all still have
to clear their ears.

Benefits of a big head, I guess. ;-)

You routinely descent at 3500 feet per minute, Ben?

My ears never bother me in normal flight, but dropping *that* fast might
cause someone some pretty severe discomfort.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

"Jay Honeck" wrote


(And you can take a peek at the picture I selected for our opening webpage
at www.AlexisParkInn.com. It's really shows our position relative to the
airport and other important local attractions. For our potential guests,
this picture really is worth a thousand words...)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Good picture. My only comment is, that a north arrow might be helpful.
--
Jim in NC

1 mile high is a pressure of around 12.2 PSI. so dropping from 5280' to
sea level (14.7 PSI) (splash) would make a 2-1/2 PSI increase in pressure.
If you did that in 1 minute, then that would be 5280 FPM decent rate.

Compare to S.C.U.B.A. It's not that hard on the ears. In sea water,
every 33 feet is equal to 1 atmosphere of air (14.7PSI) A realitively fast
decent (2 minute) 132' would be like dropping around 23-1/2 times faster or
124,000 FPM A 58.8PSI increase in less than 2 minutes and it's not that hard
to do.

Anyone seen that girl that did that free dive to, I forget 500 feet deep
or some crazy amount like that?

Try it with a cold and it can get real uncomfortable though. The trip
back up is where you need to go slowly or risk the bends. I have only ever
dropped fast like that a few times in a plane. What's that equal out to in a
160 nmph dive? I never realized an altimeter could move that fast.

What a great picture though. Next time I go far away, I will have to
hold the altitude, and get a shot like that. Yours turned out very well.
That was through a window?
Wayne



Benefits of a big head, I guess. ;-)

You routinely descent at 3500 feet per minute, Ben?

My ears never bother me in normal flight, but dropping *that* fast might
cause someone some pretty severe discomfort.
--

Dale wrote:

I come down a little faster than you though, normally around
3000-3500fpm. G

If I try more than about 1,000 fpm, the CHTs get out of the green on the low
side pretty quick.

George Patterson
A woman's perfect breakfast occurs when she's sitting at the table sipping
gourmet coffee while looking at pictures of her son on the cover of Sports
Illustrated, her daughter on the cover of Business Week, her boyfriend on
the cover of Playgirl, and her husband on the back of the milk carton.