Mountain flying instruction

[1524J]

Looking for a CFI in the Idaho Falls or Utah valley area to provide instruction. Would prefer Mooney experienced. Will be making weekly flights between Rawlins WY (KRWL) and Spanish Fork UT (U77). Also between Rawlins and Idaho Falls (KIDA). 

[dfgreene61]

Bobby Picker at KIDA is a good instructor, I highly rec. 
208-521-1446

 

[FloridaMan]

There are some real mountains out there. All I know is that if you're going towards a ridge and your performance seems to be really good, expect it to suck on the other side. 

The worst turbulence I've ever experienced was flying over the high desert in New Mexico with high winds. That was absolutely terrifying, like a little kid was playing with my Mooney like it was a toy.

Edited March 26, 2016 by Antares

[1524J]

9 hours ago, dfgreene61 said:

Bobby Picker at KIDA is a good instructor, I highly rec. 
208-521-1446

 

My son was using Bobby for his PPL. He lacked just a little more time when the semester ended and came home finishing his ticket here over X-mas break. He'll be working out of Rawlins this summer and I want him to get specific training for mountain flying since he's talked me into allowing him to use the Mooney through the summer. I'll remind him to visit with Bobby. Thanks

 

 

 

[1524J]

1 hour ago, Antares said:

There are some real mountains out there. All I know is that if you're going towards a ridge and your performance seems to be really good, expect it to suck on the other side. 

The worst turbulence I've ever experienced was flying over the high desert in New Mexico with high winds. That was absolutely terrifying, like a little kid was playing with my Mooney like it was a toy.

When we purchased the Mooney I have now, my partner flew up to Bosie to pick it up. Coming home over New Mexico he said he was cruising along in perfectly smooth air and the bottom just fell out. Only lasted a second or two but scared him pretty bad. Said he'd never experienced any thing like it before or since. 

[midlifeflyer]

6 hours ago, 1524J said:

When we purchased the Mooney I have now, my partner flew up to Bosie to pick it up. Coming home over New Mexico he said he was cruising along in perfectly smooth air and the bottom just fell out. Only lasted a second or two but scared him pretty bad. Said he'd never experienced any thing like it before or since. 

Could be a lot of reasons. Could be clear air turbulence or simply the effect of a ridge below. Biggest bump I had was returning from Santa Fe to Denver. (Route in Skyvector)

Winds aloft were forecast in the 30-40 KT range at ridge altitudes, so we stayed on the windward side of the mountains knowing it would be smoother and the updraft leading to higher airspeed. We crossed in the vicinity of La Veta Pass and, as we turned toward the pass, I told my wife to expect some serious turbulence as soon as we crossed. We tightened our belts, I slowed to maneuvering speed, and over we came.

Got exactly what we expected!

As expected, bumpy the rest of the way home but nothing like that anticipated first one!

[N201MKTurbo]

10 hours ago, Antares said:

 

The worst turbulence I've ever experienced was flying over the high desert in New Mexico with high winds. That was absolutely terrifying, like a little kid was playing with my Mooney like it was a toy.

+1 on that.

The wife and I were slogging along with an 80kt head wind in moderate turbelance at 16000 ft. We would have just landed and waited for conditions to improve, but there was severe turbelance below and we couldn't stand the thought of flying through anything worse. New Mexico is a beautiful place, but their air sucks...