Night flying in the mountians in a cessna 150,

Thomas Borchert wrote:
The odds will
catch up with you eventually.

You say we're ALL going to win the lottery?

Sure, if we play long enough.

Fly long enough, and an engine WILL fail. I've flown about 1900 hours
in powered aircraft, but 800 of those were in twins so I have about
2700 hours of engine time. I've had an engine failure caused by
mechanical problems. Once.

Michael

"Michael" wrote in message
ups.com...
mindenpilot wrote:
From the time I hit Tahoe, until I get to Placerville, there is
literally
NOWHERE to safely put it down.
In fact, I don't think I could even walk away from the plane if I had
to put
it down.

With that in mind, what difference would it make if it was light or
dark
outside the plane?
I'd be dead either way, right?

Sounds about right. There are certain situations where VMC/IMC and
day/night make no difference (provided the pilot is prepared to control
the plane by reference to instruments) - and those situations are where
the terrain is uniformly bad (overwater) or uniformly good (nothing but
fields). Maybe the Sierras really are uniformly bad.

Thing is, while I've never flown the Sierras, I've made three crossings
over the Rockies doing the Houston-San Francisco run. Two of them were
day-VMC, and one included night and IMC flying.



Pet peeve...its Sierra not Sierras, the word is already plural.

Mike
MU-2

("Mike Rapoport" wrote)
Pet peeve...its Sierra not Sierras, the word is already plural.


What's the singular? Siera?

Rocky Mountain
Rocky Mountains
Rockies

?????? Mountain
?????? Mountains
Sierras


Montblack

Mike,
American Heritage Dictionary defines a sierra is "a rugged range of
mountains having an irregular or jagged profile".
I did a quick web search and found sierras being used quite often.
Here are some old sources:

Book: In the Heart of the Sierras by James M. Hutchings (1888)
Movies: Springtime in the Sierras (1947); King of the Sierras (1938)

So if there are more than one mountan ranges, it appears that the
plural term sierras is used such as Sierras de Cazorla, Segura and Las
Villas in Spain

http://www.andalucia.com/environment...ct/cazorla.htm

"Mike Rapoport" wrote in message news:wWqTd.5072

Pet peeve...its Sierra not Sierras, the word is already plural.


But we are talking about a proper noun. If my last name meant "many good
looking people" in Italian and you invited my family and I to your house you
wouldn't say "Damn we are lucky enough to have the Giacona coming over
tonight." You would say, "Damn we are lucky enough to have the Giaconas
coming over tonight. We better get more wine."

When I was young, I might have tried a trip like this, but the longer I
continue flying, and the longer I stay alive the less I like to take
chances.

You are decreasing your odds of a successful flight by 1) single engine over
mountains, 2) very low power aircraft, and 3) no instrument rating. I
might try one of these variables on a given day, but never all three at one
time.

Night flight is statistically much more dangerous than day flight. Heck,
many countries don't even allow night VFR flight. But, I don't want that
here in the US!! I want the right to make that decision, and the more night
VFR accidents that happen, the more likely night VFR will be banned here as
well.

If you are single engine over the mountains at night, you could easily fly
into a cloud or even icing conditions without knowing it, and without
sufficient instrument training and adequate additional climb capability, you
might not find a way out before hitting something hard.

"NW_PILOT" wrote in message
...
I departed 63S about 7:30pm calm winds and clear skies were being
reported
for the entire trip home over the mountain ranges. I can say that yes it
is
black out there at night and every little noise is amplified when flying
over dark mountainous terrain. The winds were not as expected took 2.7
hours
to fly VFR GPS direct to KYKM. From KYKM to KVUO it took another 2.4 hours
pluss the high clouds blocked out the stars and almost all the moon light.

If you are single engine over the mountains at night, you could easily fly
into a cloud or even icing conditions without knowing it, and without
sufficient instrument training and adequate additional climb capability,
you
might not find a way out before hitting something hard.

Additionally, if you lose your engine, where exactly are you going to put it
down safely?

very thought provoking thread for me. valuable stuff to consider
personal minimums. as someone who has been riding motorcycles for 40
years, i find it kinda tough to be critical of the decisions other
people make when the biggest killer of stupid old men is really big
motorcycles. news here a couple of weeks ago about some poor old fart
who was sitting on his porch when an 18-wheeler tire exploded and blew
him away. true.

i like the line someone around here uses about safety being an
impediment to progress....(sorry for the sloppy paraphrase)...

dan

motorcycles. news here a couple of weeks ago about some poor old fart
who was sitting on his porch when an 18-wheeler tire exploded and blew
him away. true.

In my opinion it's more accurate to say that "so and so was prepared to
accept a level of risk that is higher than what I would be prepared to
accept" than it is to call something "dangerous". Unfortunately, too many
pilots continue to accept too high a level of risk - and as a result, they
keep on dying horrible deaths.

For me, safety isn't about the number of times you prepare for an event that
never happens (eg wearing a seatbelt when you didn't have an accident) -
it's all about avoiding the one time when something does go wrong - and the
pilot is totally unprepared to cope with it.

Night flying over inhospitable terrain in a single? No thanks - not for me.

"Cockpit Colin" wrote

Unfortunately, too many
pilots continue to accept too high a level of risk - and as a result, they
keep on dying horrible deaths.

I'm with you. Saying that you accept the risks, because you are a
professional pilot, is a cop-out of a reason. A true professional would not
accept missions of undue risk, and wait for conditions more acceptable, and
manageable.

What's that saying about old pilots, and bold pilots?
--
Jim in NC