Mountain Flying Checkout in Colorado
Colorado is a great place to learn the ins and outs of mountain flying and get a mountain checkout. While there is no formal FAA rating or endorsement for a mountain checkout, many insurance companies will still require such checkout before pilots are allowed to fly into high terrain. At Alpine Flight Training we follow a curriculum that follows the topics developed by AOPA Air Safety Foundation. In Fact, we recommend every student coming for mountain flying to take the online ASF Mountain Flying Course prior to mountain flying with us. Doing so will make your mountain checkout count towards a wings phase of pilot proficiency, and that can mean a reduction in insurance premiums.
Any mountain checkout should consist of a combination of ground and flight instruction. Topics should include weather, performance limitations, specific maneuvers, strategies, practice landing and departing mountain airports with a variety of challenges, and practice flying mountain passes.
Eagle Airport - Flight Instruction, Ground Instruction, Aircraft Rental, Mountain Flying
Rates for flight & ground training as well as aircraft rental at Eagle Airport
| Aircraft Rental | |
| DA-20-C1 Katana Evolution Rental* | $129.00 / Hour |
| Instructional Rates | |
| Flight Instruction in Alpine Flight Traning Katana | $50.00 / Hour |
| Flight Instruction in Customer Owned Aircraft | $75.00 / Hour |
| Ground Instruction | $40.00 / Hour |
| Other Fees | |
| Overnight Trip Rate - Billed for instructor to accompany a pilot on overnight trip. | $350 + Expenses |
| *Aircraft are rented wet, meaning fuel and oil costs are included. Multi-day trips are billed at rate of 3.0 hours per day if the actual flight time is less. Ask us about the discount we extend to licensed pilots for maintaining their currency in our aircraft. If you are a licensed pilot and fly the aircraft at least 1 hour every 30 days we will discount your rental rate. | |
Cross Country in a Diamond DA-20
I recently had the opportunity to reposition our Diamond DA-20 from Baltimore Maryland to the Colorado Rockies. This is a neat little video, traveling over the mountains of Maryland and West Virginia, through Ohio, Indiana, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado and right into the Colorado Rockies, ultimately landing in Eagle Colorado.
As the video progresses you'll see the air get clearer and clearer - the haze of the moisture layer from Missouri disappears as we get into Kansas. As we reach Colorado the air is crystal clear and the view is vibrant. The flight through the mountains is probably the best of the footage. As I crossed over Leadville, the density altitude at the field was 12,800, at 13,500 where we were cruising the density altitude as well over 16,000 feet.
If you have interest in flying through the Rockies as we did in this video then I suggest getting formal mountain flying training from a local company like Alpine Flight Training - 970-401-5105.
Learn to Fly at Eagle County Airport
Imagine taking the ultimate 2 seat sports car and adding wings. That’s the feeling you get when you take to the skies and learn to fly. Flying represents the ultimate freedom allowing you see the world from a different perspective. Flying is a precise blend of art and science.
Whether you are learning to fly for fun, to enhance your ability to conduct business, or as a new career, it will be one of the most rewarding things you will ever do.
Alpine Flight Training offers private pilot ground and flight training as well as instrument training at the Eagle County Regional Airport located in Eagle Colorado. Our training features a Diamond DA-20 Eclipse, one of the safest training aircraft in the industry, The DA-20 is the primary choice of flight schools through the nation as well as the training airplane for the US Air Force initial flight screening program.
Our location at Eagle County Regional Airport is ideal for new pilot training and a convenient drive from Vail, Eagle, Glenwood Springs, Edwards, Minturn, Avon, and Gypsum, Colorado. Students learning to fly at Eagle Airport will learn mountain flying first hand from our team of professional instructors. Our proximity from Aspen, Glenwood Springs, Rifle and Steamboat Springs provides our students with a diverse selection of airports and challenges ideal for learning safe mountain flying. Learn more about Alpine Flight Training by visiting our website or call us today at 970-401-5105.
Mountain Flying: Planning Summer Mountain Flights
This last weekend I was at the Glenwood Springs airport where I witnessed a takeoff that could have easily ended in tragedy. This particular incident made me think back to another incident several years earlier that was very tragic indeed where lack of flight planning resulted in a child burned to death on the side of a mountain in the wreckage of a small plane crash. This particular crash actually killed 2 of the four passengers, one being a child and the other being his father. The irony of this wreak was that it was an airplane in perfect working order, had plenty of fuel, and was being flown on a perfect sunny cloudless day here in Colorado.
We frequently hear about complacency with relation to flying. The tendency of course is that as pilots get more and more time under their belts, they tend to become complacent with regards to the operation of their aircraft. We see this in all aspects, from planning, to preflight, and right on into flight operations.
I see it everyday, pilots becoming lazy… not flying with precision of altitude and heading, not scanning for traffic as intently as they had when they first got licensed. What used to be a thorough preflight becomes a brief walk around. Of course no single aspect seems to fade more than the flight planning process. What was once a well prepared flight plan seems to go away entirely.
During our mountain flight training I often fly with pilots that have been flying for years if not decades. I usually begin each flight with what did flight service say? It’s amazing how many pilots will not hesitate to hop in the plane without even so much as a weather check. This is problem for a variety of reasons, which I will get into. But even if you think you know and understand the weather in your local area and you’re only staying in the pattern it’s still smart to see what’s happening with temporary flight restrictions.
Lack of flight planning is an even larger issue when flying in the mountains. Thinner air means operating much closer to the airplane performance limit. With both the incident that nearly occurred this weekend as well as the wreak I referred to, the issue was the same. The pilot’s failure to do any type of planning and subsequent failure to understand the performance limitations of their aircraft.
In the case of the wreak, the pilot departed Eagle Airport with full fuel and 4 passengers and tried to fly direct to Salt Lake. The only problem, it was high density altitude and the aircraft simply could not deliver the climb performance needed to fly direct. The missing ingredient… planning. A thorough planning would have revealed the aircraft’s inability to fly direct over a 13,000 foot mountain, and the result of the planning would have been either a lighter fuel load or a different route.
The incident I watched nearly unfold was all too similar. Without thinking (or rather any planning), a pilot of a normally aspirated ’74 Arrow topped off the tanks, and him and his passenger took off. They got in the air with only a couple feet remaining of runway and cleared the trees at the end with only a couple feet of clearance. Had they consulted the POH and some some basic performance calcs they would have known they were on the very edge of their aircraft performance.
Colorado Flight Instruction : Demand for airline pilots set to soar
Begin your flight instruction today at Eagle County Regional Airport... Here is an interesting article from USA Today regarding the future of Pilot Hiring. I'm guessing this is a good time to learn to fly in order to position yourself for this upcoming hiring frenzy.
http://travel.usatoday.com/flights/story/2011/06/Demand-for-airline-pilots-set-to-soar/48661596/1
After nearly a four-year drought of job openings, the airline industry is on the brink of what's predicted to be the biggest surge in pilot hiring in history. Aircraft maker Boeing has forecast a need for 466,650 more commercial pilots by 2029 — an average of 23,300 new pilots a year. Nearly 40% of the openings will be to meet the soaring travel market in the Asia-Pacific region, Boeing predicts, but more than 97,000 will be in North America.
"It is a dramatic turnaround," says Louis Smith, president of FltOps.com, a website that provides career and financial planning for pilots. "Pilot hiring was severely depressed in the last three years. The next 10 years will be the exact opposite, with the longest and largest pilot hiring boom in the history of the industry."
The demand for pilots will be so great that the industry could ultimately face a shortage, sparking fierce competition among airlines across the globe vying for candidates qualified to fill their cockpits.
"We're already seeing in some spots around the world a shortage of pilots … and if you were watching this a few years ago at the last peak, you had airlines stealing from other airlines," says Sherry Carbary, vice president of flight services for Boeing Commercial Airplanes in Seattle. "It's a global marketplace for pilots, and … we'll not have enough if that growth trend continues over the next few years. That's something the industry needs to come to grips with. Where is our pipeline of new pilots going to come from, and how are we going to finance them?"
The hiring surge is being fueled by several factors:
•The rapid growth of travel in Asia, which is on track to surpass North America as the largest air travel market in the world;
•A looming wave of pilot retirements in the USA;
•Proposed changes to rules that could increase the time pilots must train, rest and work;
•And increasing demand for air travel within the USA as the economy improves.
U.S. carriers had 4.9% more pilots in 2010 than in 2009, with much of the increase fueled by low-cost carriers that are continuing to expand, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
Low-cost airlines such as Southwest, Virgin America and AirTran increased their pilot staffing 11.2% in 2010 over 2009, while regional carriers increased their pilot numbers by 4.9%. Major network airlines, however, saw their pilot workforce drop 1.3% last year, the bureau says.
"The cost of the fuel has spooked a few carriers," Smith says, noting that the massive earthquake and tsunami in Japan have also had some impact. But, he says, the industry-wide hiring explosion is "still on track."
See Also
- USA Today
Nice article about airline pilot hiring.
Learn to fly in Eagle Colorado | USA TODAY: We are on the brink of the largest surge in pilot hiring in history...
The career outlook is positive. Now is a great time to learn to fly in Eagle Colorado and fulfill your dream of becoming a pilot.
From USA Today: http://travel.usatoday.com/flights/story/2011/06/Demand-for-airline-pilots-set-to-soar/48661596/1
After nearly a four-year drought of job openings, the airline industry is on the brink of what’s predicted to be the biggest surge in pilot hiring in history. Aircraft maker Boeing has forecast a need for 466,650 more commercial pilots by 2029 — an average of 23,300 new pilots a year. Nearly 40% of the openings will be to meet the soaring travel market in the Asia-Pacific region, Boeing predicts, but more than 97,000 will be in North America.
“It is a dramatic turnaround,” says Louis Smith, president of FltOps.com, a website that provides career and financial planning for pilots. “Pilot hiring was severely depressed in the last three years. The next 10 years will be the exact opposite, with the longest and largest pilot hiring boom in the history of the industry.”
The demand for pilots will be so great that the industry could ultimately face a shortage, sparking fierce competition among airlines across the globe vying for candidates qualified to fill their cockpits.
“We’re already seeing in some spots around the world a shortage of pilots … and if you were watching this a few years ago at the last peak, you had airlines stealing from other airlines,” says Sherry Carbary, vice president of flight services for Boeing Commercial Airplanes in Seattle. “It’s a global marketplace for pilots, and … we’ll not have enough if that growth trend continues over the next few years. That’s something the industry needs to come to grips with. Where is our pipeline of new pilots going to come from, and how are we going to finance them?”
The hiring surge is being fueled by several factors:
•The rapid growth of travel in Asia, which is on track to surpass North America as the largest air travel market in the world;
•A looming wave of pilot retirements in the USA;
•Proposed changes to rules that could increase the time pilots must train, rest and work;
•And increasing demand for air travel within the USA as the economy improves.
U.S. carriers had 4.9% more pilots in 2010 than in 2009, with much of the increase fueled by low-cost carriers that are continuing to expand, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
Low-cost airlines such as Southwest, Virgin America and AirTran increased their pilot staffing 11.2% in 2010 over 2009, while regional carriers increased their pilot numbers by 4.9%. Major network airlines, however, saw their pilot workforce drop 1.3% last year, the bureau says.
“The cost of the fuel has spooked a few carriers,” Smith says, noting that the massive earthquake and tsunami in Japan have also had some impact. But, he says, the industry-wide hiring explosion is “still on track.”
Vail Valley Jet Center Flight Instruction
Alpine Flight Training has moved into their new offices as the Vail Valley Jet Center located in Hangar 1. The Vail Valley Jet Center is the Primary FBO for Eagle County Regional Airport. Our new facility offers a classroom, FAA Certified FTD (Flight Training Device) that can be used to accumulate training time towards an instrument rating, and a heated hangar for your preflight inspection. If you want to learn more about the flight instruction services we offer please call us today at (970) 401-5105.
Eagle County Regional Airport is the ideal place to learn to fly. The large runway and air traffic control services provided at Eagle County Regional increase the level of safety for students. Our local surrounding airports of Glenwood Springs, Rifle and Aspen help to create a diverse training environment ideal for instructing new pilots. Alpine Flight Training offers Private Pilot, Instrument Ratings, Commercial Ratings as well as instruction for Certified Flight Instructor and Instrument Instructor applicants.
Alpine Flight Flight Instruction at Eagle County Regional Airport - flight instruction in the Central Colorado Rockies and Western Slope of Colorado. Close proximity to Leadville, Vail, Edwards, Eagle, Gypsum, Avon, Glenwood Springs, Rifle, Aspen
Aircraft Checklists
The importance of learning to use and using checklists.
One element of inital flight training that new pilots often rebel against is the use of checklists. Over and over I hear brand new students pilots ask the same questions. Why do I need to use a checklist, why not just memorize the items and operate the aircraft without the checklist.
To a certain extent this attitude makes sense. After all, in what other area of our everyday lives do we use checklists?
I usually explain checklist use by telling pilots that the point of using checklists as a student pilot is is to form a habit pattern that will hopefully stay with them for the rest of their flying days.
Why is that important? Well, student pilots don't stay student pilots for long. Some become private, commercial, ATP, and multi-engine pilots. Most will transition out of the 172. While it may seem meaningles to have an in range checklist on a 172, it's not on a 737.
By drilling the use of checklists into student pilots, we form habits that aid them in later endeavors. Whether the student is transitioning to larger more complex aircraft, flying unfamiliar aircraft, or dealing with an emergency or unusual situation, the response will be the same - turn to the checklist.
Besides the simple directive of "use the checklist," the pilot also needs to be taught just how to use the checklist to make it as useful a tool as possible. For example, when I train private pilots I usually tell them to use a flow pattern and then recheck their work using the checklist. If there are two pilots then a PF/PNF challenge/reaponse structure is excellent practice to prepare them for airlines, corporate flying, and CRM concepts.
My final thought... students need to also be taught to challenge the contents of checklists. As we've all seen there are many after-market checklists. Often these checklists are missing items, have incorrect order, or bad parameters. Sometimes the best practice is to consult several checklists and compile your own. Just today I was instructing in a 182. The checklist was missing any form of check for the fuel tank selector. Go figure?