1k NMs w stiff wind

[OHAEDO]

Today was a 5.5 hour slog up from the Caribbean - she handles well and landed w 29 gallons (eg carefully managed fuel). Such a versatile bird!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[N201MKTurbo]

I always stay low with a headwind.

[jetdriven]

Yep.  Flew to OSH from houston a couple years ago, at 1500 AGL.  If it’s good for my friend’s cub it’s good for my plane

[N201MKTurbo]

Plus you get to see the cows and barns and such, cool....

[OHAEDO]

I always stay low with a headwind.

Over water I go as high as possible


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[ArtVandelay]

Show off! ;-)


Tom

[MarkD34M]

What altitude and headwind? Nice ride!!

[OHAEDO]

What altitude and headwind? Nice ride!!

Thanks. I did FL20 the big jump from PR to Turks and got down to 12 over the Exumas. Wind was 15-20 on the nose


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Gagarin]

I used to do the same trip but non stop from KFXE to TJIG to avoid Customs and refuel

 

[jlunseth]

5 hours ago, OHAEDO said:

Over water I go as high as possible
 

I do that most of the time but it depends. If the winds aloft at altitude are 100 kts on the nose, and at 1500 AGL they are 10 kts, what difference does it make what altitude you are at? The glide range is going to be the same. The only real advantage is that it would be easier to reach the airports behind you if the engine actually stopped.  That is unfortunately the case with adverse winds, they go up in wind speed with altitude just at just about the same rate that TAS goes up.  Might as well stay low on those days.

[OHAEDO]

I do that most of the time but it depends. If the winds aloft at altitude are 100 kts on the nose, and at 1500 AGL they are 10 kts, what difference does it make what altitude you are at? The glide range is going to be the same. The only real advantage is that it would be easier to reach the airports behind you if the engine actually stopped.  That is unfortunately the case with adverse winds, they go up in wind speed with altitude just at just about the same rate that TAS goes up.  Might as well stay low on those days.

I am thinking the area is dotted with airports, high to me means i can go back and have many options behind me - unless it was only water, which is typically not the case.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[kortopates]

Gliding distance into the wind is largely irrelevant IMO. Cruising low; especially at 1500’ agl gives you very little time to deal with an emergency let alone pick a suitable landing spot which will be limited to a very small area. Cruising high gives us a lot more time which comes with a much larger range of options.
I would much much rather cruise in VMC above any weather in smooth air and take a few minutes longer than suffer continuously in less than smooth VMC conditions to save a couple minutes. I enjoy finding the smooth ride as well.
Rarely, but it happens for one reason or another, I can’t get on top, not because of performance but sometimes it’s really bad turbulence in clouds from the really crazy winds up there or it may be icing.
I guess I never fly what many here are referring to as low except when doing ground reference maneuvers with students and never x-ctry.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Gagarin]

One significant advantage of altitude is VHF radio range. On overwater flights I always carry marine radio frequencies capability (156.8Mhz). If you are going to be ditching you want to be near a boat. On most routes there is plenty of boats that will hear your call. Just make sure you choose the right boat. 

 

[exM20K]

2 hours ago, OHAEDO said:

 

I am thinking the area is dotted with airports, high to me means i can go back and have many options behind me - unless it was only water, which is typically not the case.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

A 120 KIAS climb in a 310HP Acclaim will get 12-1500 fpm climb all the was to the flight levels, which means that for the entire climb and for some distance after, a return to the departure field is easy-peasy.  Very nice capability to have for sure.  Even the stock Acclaim covers 42 nm in a cruise climb from SL to FL240.  Glide is > 2NM / 1000 feet of altitude, so there you are...

-dan

[irishpilot]

I've found that 40 kts or less in the FLs will warrant the climb into the wind. I've found that the trade space between glide distance and TAS going into the winds typically puts me between 6-11k. 

Glide distance is critical, especially over water. During the winter westbound, it can be humbling with a 70-100kt headwind. 

[Ibra]

On 1/25/2020 at 7:19 PM, kortopates said:

I guess I never fly what many here are referring to as low except when doing ground reference maneuvers with students and never x-ctry.

I am not sure if there are valid operational and safety reasons to fly bellow 2000ft agl while doing A to B?

[Hank]

4 hours ago, Ibra said:

I am not sure if there are valid operational and safety reasons to fly bellow 2000ft agl while doing A to B?

Short lunch runs. I used to fly at 3000 msl going one cou ty over to eat, and the hilltops were ~1200msl. Not worth climbing to 4500 for a 35nm trip. 

[tmo]

@Ibra - how high did you fly in PPL training?  Most FPLs I filed while doing PPL training were A015...

[Ibra]

I was more thinking when doing cross-country and dealing with headwinds, airspace, traffic, turbulence, terrain, vmc, icing...by flying low at say 1000ft agl, usually does not sort the problem but +1000ft does make a hell of difference to terrain/traffic collision, keep control and engine failures

Yes, PPL training and A to A bimble flights are done low but we don't even plan altitude for these (I recall my PFLs were done a bit higher, 1500ft seems very low? Say you are at 1500ft cross-country and engine quits? Nothing to select/plan 500ft vanishes while in denial and one turn at 150kts bleeds 1000ft, so it will be dead into wind anyway )

[Hank]

1 hour ago, tmo said:

@Ibra - how high did you fly in PPL training?  Most FPLs I filed while doing PPL training were A015...

Most of my PPL flights here in mountainous terrain were done at or below 4500 msl. When I transitioned into my Mooney two months later, other than pattern work we were always higher. 

If my flight will be 45 minutes or so, I'm generally at least 5500; when traveling, 7500-10,000 msl is the sweet spot for my Mooney.