Turbo's and Mountains

[carusoam]

Following a highway that goes underground is sure to be a surprise.

That's a long tunnel.

Best regards,

-a-

[peevee]

Just now, carusoam said:

Following a highway that goes underground is sure to be a surprise.

That's a long tunnel.

Best regards,

-a-

Also, LEARN WHAT ROTOR CLOUDS LOOK LIKE!! Avoid the crap out of them.

 

Last year a guy from KS parked his dakota up on loveland pass because he couldn't outclimb the terrain or turn. Sad deal, killed 3.

[Rookie]

Not sure how the folks are on other sites, but this one is the best!!

Bunch of great people out there!

[wombat]

I've crossed the Rockies 4 times now in a M20E in June July and August.  I did go solo, so climbing to altitude wasn't a problem.   If I want to go direct or nearly direct over the mountains I also want daylight and a lot of room between the mountains and clouds; 5000' ceilings from the valleys at least.  I don't mind going IMC if I will have an opportunity to pick a good landing spot visually in the event of an engine failure or icing.   If I don't have those things I'll pick a different route to give me good access to lowlands and glideable airports.

[peevee]

You're gonna have a hard time going imc with mea limitations in a na... 

[gsxrpilot]

Great flight to day. 84R to KDRO with a fuel stop at KPVW which is within 2nm of being exactly half way. BTW fuel is $3.36 at KPVW.  

The first leg of the trip, 84R to KPVW was at 6500 to stay under the MOA's and under the WIND. At 6500 we actually had a 5 kt tailwind. I knew the second leg was going to have to be higher, so why not take advantage of the favorable winds down low while we could.

After a very quick fuel stop, we'd burned 23 gal, we were back in the air and this time climbing to 8500 initially. At the handoff from FortWorth Center to Albuquerque Center, we were told to climb to 10,500 for communication coverage. So we started a slow climb and just kept going all the way to 12,500 which is what we'd need to cross the pass just east of Taos. 

It was a bit turbulent on the east side of the pass but smoothed out as we crossed over with about 1800 ft of air beneath us. On the west side, we started our descent early to get the speed and also get down out of the 20 kt wind on the nose. 

23.1 gal on the second leg means we could have easily done it non-stop. But with airports a bit thin out here, it's always better to have too much fuel. 

We'll enjoy a few days here and then look for a good weather day to get out and head home.

[wombat]

On 12/19/2015 at 10:44 AM, peevee said:

You're gonna have a hard time going imc with mea limitations in a na... 

I'd say it's less luck and more good planning.  There are a few routes around that have MEAs above 13,000' but mostly you can make it at 13,000' or below.  A lot of them have MOCAs of 11,000' or less.  If you are flying very heavy those altitudes might be slower to achieve without a turbo, but you should determine what altitude you can climb to and plan for a route that doesn't require you to climb above that.  Even a C is fast enough that you can go around some pretty big mountain ranges without losing too much time.

Sure, having more power at altitude and being able to climb higher/faster would allow you to fly additional routes, but there is still plenty of flying that can be done without a turbo.

[bucko]

Fly to KSAF (Santa Fe) and overnight there so you can leave in the early morning the next day.  (Plus, Santa Fe is an interesting and fun place to visit.)  Easy flight in from the east with highest elevation about 8,300 feet closer to KSAF.

 

Then, I fly on a VFR/ Flight Following or IFR flight plan as follows:

KSAF  ZIASE  FELRI  KAIB  then KMTJ 

You can fly the whole way at 10,500 feet or higher, which is easy in a Mooney.  There is a ridge line just before Montrose that goes up to about 10,000 feet, but most of the trip is in a very wide valley with several airports along the way.

Bucko

M20-E

[bucko]

Realize that ATC is going to lose you on radar because of the surrounding terrain, but you'll be talking to them the whole way.

 

Bucko

 

[gsxrpilot]

56 minutes ago, bucko said:

Realize that ATC is going to lose you on radar because of the surrounding terrain, but you'll be talking to them the whole way.

 

Bucko

 

Have you ever thought of diverting to KTEX just for fun?

[cnoe]

Realize that ATC is going to lose you on radar because of the surrounding terrain, but you'll be talking to them the whole way.

 

Bucko

 

Seems weird to me when Albuquerque hands you off to Denver Center heading in to DRO. I don't think they ever see you on the screen.

Did y'all make it up to Wolf Creek Paul? Wish I was there. Last February I had to bug out early from DRO for an approaching storm and in consecutive days following my departure they recorded 70" of snow at the airport. Glad I left when I did. Have fun!

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[gsxrpilot]

4 hours ago, cnoe said:

Seems weird to me when Albuquerque hands you off to Denver Center heading in to DRO. I don't think they ever see you on the screen.

Did y'all make it up to Wolf Creek Paul? Wish I was there. Last February I had to bug out early from DRO for an approaching storm and in consecutive days following my departure they recorded 70" of snow at the airport. Glad I left when I did. Have fun!

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

No skiing this trip, my wife doesn't ski and it's been a full white out on the mountain all week.  DRO has been OVC200 1/4mile vis and heavy snow for three days now. But the stars are out tonight, and there is a clear window in the forecast until noon tomorrow. So we plan to bug out first thing in the morning... if the forecast holds. All we need is about 4 hours to get from DRO to 84R.

[cnoe]

4 hours ago, cnoe said: Seems weird to me when Albuquerque hands you off to Denver Center heading in to DRO. I don't think they ever see you on the screen.

Did y'all make it up to Wolf Creek Paul? Wish I was there. Last February I had to bug out early from DRO for an approaching storm and in consecutive days following my departure they recorded 70" of snow at the airport. Glad I left when I did. Have fun!

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

No skiing this trip, my wife doesn't ski and it's been a full white out on the mountain all week.  DRO has been OVC200 1/4mile vis and heavy snow for three days now. But the stars are out tonight, and there is a clear window in the forecast until noon tomorrow. So we plan to bug out first thing in the morning... if the forecast holds. All we need is about 4 hours to get from DRO to 84R.

Oh yeah, that's what I'm takin' about, TAILWINDS! I had to pull back the throttle last time due to turbulence but was making 185 kts GS on 8.2 gph (125 ias). Hope y'all find similar (but without the turbulence).

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[astravierso]

Here's an AOPA safety course which may be a good primer for Mountain Flying.

https://flash.aopa.org/asf/mountainFlying/html/flash.cfm

Cheers

 

[peevee]

On 12/23/2015 at 3:34 PM, cnoe said:

Seems weird to me when Albuquerque hands you off to Denver Center heading in to DRO. I don't think they ever see you on the screen.

Did y'all make it up to Wolf Creek Paul? Wish I was there. Last February I had to bug out early from DRO for an approaching storm and in consecutive days following my departure they recorded 70" of snow at the airport. Glad I left when I did. Have fun!

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Radar coverage south of Alamosa can be as high as 190 or 200, depends on the angle he came in on, coverage is quite bad there.  No wam sites like around the busier areas. 

[bucko]

On December 23, 2015 at 1:01 PM, gsxrpilot said:

Have you ever thought of diverting to KTEX just for fun?

Yes, we visit Telluride for the Film Festival and have gone out there for 3 of the last 4 years.  The first year, I was planning to go into KTEX as we were flying up the valley, but wind and clouds made the possibility of making a successful approach unlikely.  So we landed that first time at Montrose.

Then we drove into Telluride and my wife got a good look at the airport with the mountains around it and looking like an aircraft landing with drop off at each end and said, "If you want to drop me off in Montrose and then fly to KTEX, that's ok with me.  But I don't want to fly into here to land.  It looks too scary."

Being a sometimes smart person, we have since always flown into KMTJ.

(As an aside, on our flight up 2 years ago I looked to the east as we were passing and saw KTEX bright and sunny and calling to me.  I just flew on, and we drove into Telluride 45 minutes later in the middle of a thunderstorm.  Storms can pop up there in minutes with little or no warning.)