Southwest trip advice

If I could find a mountain course in the Northeast I would definitely
do it before I go, but I don't think I'll have enough time while on the
trip to stop in Denver. Is it the opinion of you folks with more
experience than I that I should make the time to get checked out even
considering the route I proposed?

I don't have my head in the sand on this, I've researched and read
everything I can, but as we know experience is the real teacher. I
might have a false sense of security after flying the plane home across
the country from Oklahoma City with no surprises at all. But I know
that once I get to New Mexico it's all new to me, and that's why I'm
here asking these questions.

If I determine I'm too ambitous with this, I have no problem putting it
off to next year.


H.P. wrote:
The statement: "...I won't have time to stop and get checked out "
bothers me a bit because it reveals that you may need a
personal-minimums
attitude adjustment before taking on this trek, if you ask me.

As an easy way to see what happens to your aircraft with high density
altitude, try taking off at your airport and restrict your RPMS or MP
to about 2000rpm or 19-20"mp. That will give you an appreciation for
the loss of power and performance. Pilots have been flying in those
regions for many years without problems but they are also aware of the
dangers or loss of power with density altitude.

klm wrote:
Is it the opinion of you folks with more
experience than I that I should make the time to get checked out even
considering the route I proposed?


Not mine. It's my opinion that the type of training you got during
your PPL should suffice. I would highly recommend that you review all
you can about high D.A. operations (performance charts and leaning) and
the behavior of winds in the mountains (i.e. rotors, lenticulars,
waves). There is nothing intrinsically hazardous about your proposed
route. If you maintain a keen awareness of the effects of the
environment on your plane's performance, you shouldn't have any
problems operating out of the airports you mentioned.

Here in the Southwest, student pilots fly in these conditions during
training. While I'd venture to guess that things like D.A.
considerations are probably stressed more here than they are in the
flatlands, there's nothing special that we learn that other pilots do
not.

John Galban=====N4BQ (PA28-180)

And learn to lean. When you've never had to deal with leaning, it
can easily come as a surprise. Most of my training was/is in Colorado.
When I went to Phoenix for a few weeks on business, I took some lessons.
I immediately reached for the mixture to lean and was told "we don't
need to do that here". Hm.

One of these days I'll get to fly at sea level and find out just how
good my 180 hp aircraft flies...

On 4 Apr 2005 06:20:21 -0700, "klm" wrote:

If I could find a mountain course in the Northeast I would definitely
do it before I go

Andover Flight Academy in NJ does bush pilot training, and part of
that is mountain flying. Damian is a marvel, and he has got terrain
that will simulate canyon flying.


-- all the best, Dan Ford

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