Colorado Flying in Ovation

[N201MKTurbo]

I have to disagree about the lack of landing sites in the Rockies. Granted, there are places in southern Colorado where there are none to be found, but most places there are valleys between the high peaks and ridges that can easily be reached. You are usually over a mile above the valley floors, so you can easily glide to a landing. I did it once with a broken piston.

I would always think about landing sites, after a while you just know by your position which way you would turn to get to a flat spot.

I bought my first Mooney in Boulder CO in 84 and spent the next 5 years and 2000 hours flying daily to towns in Colorado and Wyoming. 

[mooneyflyfast]

You have gotten a lot of good advice. I would add 1. takeoff early before it gets hot 2.. keep your gross weight down as much as possible 3.. get done flying in the mountains by noon. 4. don't fly in the mountains if winds at altitude are 20kt. or more 5. you have a really long runway so take your time getting airborn and then lower your nose and build up good climb speed (ie. -don't get behind the power curve trying to get airborn in the time you would at low altitude)

[Smiles201]

One other probably obvious point, be sure to fly by indicated airspeed. Your sight picture may be very different then in the flat land, as ground speed will be higher for any indicated airspeed due to the effect of lower air pressure at altitude.

[Rustler]

Also, listen carefully to the radio as you approach. Dos Aviation teaches USAFA  and other potential USAF pilot students there, They have 38 +/- aircraft, and they all may be in the air simultaneously, particularly in the early morning. The controllers are excellent, but keep your eyes open. It has been HOT in Pueblo lately, so Dos tries to finish up before it gets to be 100+.

You won't have any problem going in and out of there. If anything, watch your mixture. Your engine may not idle at full rich. In Taos (another 2K+ higher) we frequently have flatlanders arrive here, and they shove the mixture full rich on approach, only to find that the engine expires while taxiing. Ditto to the comment to fly indicated airspeed.

[RobertE]

Someone asked for a pirep on Pueblo so let me give you an odd one.

Some time ago the airport converted what was once a runway into a taxiway.  I keep a 5 year old Flight Guide in my airplane - rather than futzing with the more current info in Foreflight - and, so, attempted to land on what was displayed on that guide as a parallel runway but, oddly, had a slight bend in it.  Just as I was dealing with all that cognitive dissonance (is Colorado such a strange state that they put slight bends in their runways or is that bend just my imagination?) the tower mercifully called for me to do a go round, with the comment "next time I suggest you attempt a landing on the runway, not taxiway").

So don't use 5 year old Flight Guides as your info source on Pueblo's airport!

[Hank]

There's at least one airport in WV with a bend, check out Mallory Field outside Charleston, WV12. It's one way in / one way out and no go arounds. Oh yeah, Robert Newlon outside Huntington, I41, is a bent grass strip, it follows the riverbank in a gentle curve.