Mountain Flying Basics - Altitude for Pass Crossing
One of the frequent topics that comes up during our mountain flying courses is what is the correct elevation for pass crossing. I'll attempt to make the answer as straight forward as possible however there are several considerations.
The first thing to remember is that we should always keep our airplane in a position to turn towards lower terrain. Now as you approach the pass, many valleys narrow - each one will be different, but the basic premise of pass crossing is that you shouldn't cross the pass until you are at an altitude that is sufficient to allow power off glide to the pass or ridge from your position, at the same time you should not put the airplane in a position where it cannot turn towards lower terrain. So as you approach the pass or ridge, if you arrive at a point where you must turn away from the pass in order to (1) keep the plane in a position to turn towards lower terrain, then you would do exactly that and turn away from the pass because you are (2) not at an altitude that is sufficient to allow a power off glide to the ridge. As you come around again after a circle to gain some altitude you can now see you are high enough to glide to the ridge top, then you can continue up the valley to cross the pass. As you cross the pass, do so at a 45 degree angle if it allows so that you have the option of reversing course back to the side of the pass you came from.
Keep in mind I'm not saying we cross the ridge power off - that's simply the means for determining if we are indeed high enough to warrant continuing towards the pass to cross.
Alpine Flight Training offers a variety of mountain flying clinics, ideally suited to all skill levels. Call 970-401-5105 for more information.
Mountain Instrument Flying | Mountain Flight Training
High terrain also presents some unique considerations when flying on instruments. For example climb gradients, visual descent points, and abnormal instrument procedures.
One such scenario involves what to do if you need to go missed after a missed approach point, i.e. on a visual descent leg.
To understand this scenario you'll need to look at the approach chart ILS-06 for Gunnison Colorado (KGUC). You'll see that the DH is 8590 (minimum) which will be roughly a distance of 2.4 miles from the runway at an altitude of 923 feet. The basis for this potential scenario is based on the fact that a lot can happen in 2.4 miles and 923 feet.
Let's imagine you fly this approach and arrive at the DH, you see some portion of the runway environment and continue to descend for landing. Now at 350 feet and 1 mile the wind picks up and you completely loose sight of the runway due to the increased blowing snow. What would you do now? Most pilots would answer that they would go missed. While this is conceptually the right answer (since continuing the descent is no good), the details of how to carry out this missed approach procedure needs to be explored.
See, the missed approach procedure is designed to be flown from the missed approach point or decision height... not before or after. As part of instrument training, we teach our students that if they decide to fly missed before the missed approach point they can begin climbing immediately, but they need to wait to turn until after the missed approach point. Executing the procedure before or after the MAP/DH may place the aircraft in danger, especially in mountainous terrain where the missed lateral track is designed to keep the aircraft clear of specific terrain.
Today, the missed procedure for GUC is climb straight to 10,000 then climbing right turn HDG 180 to 12,000. When this approach was originally first published, the missed procedure was climbing right turn to 12,000. If the pilot attempted to fly the missed past the DH, then there was a good chance they would hit a mountain to the right - this was later revised to include the straight ahead portion to 10,000.
Back to our sceanrio, what does a pilot do if they need to fly missed past the MAP or DH? The first solution is to avoid getting in this situation to begin with. As part of the preflight excercise the pilot should be carefully reading the approaches to the destination airport as well. If the approach has a DH or MAP that is more than a half mile from the runway then the pilot should consider whether this type of scenario could develop, and what should be done if it does develop.
If the approach DH or MAP is more than a half mile ask yourself if the executing the missed approach after the DH will create any potential hazards. If so, then take a look at the departure procedure for that runway. How does the departure procedure work? You might find that if you fly past the DH or MAP and need to go missed the better procedure to follow may be the departure procedure or SID for that runway.
Mountain Flight Instruction
Have you dreamed about flying through the colorado rockies or the desert southwest, but hesitant to embark on that journey without additional instruction? Come fly with the instructors at alpine flight training located in eagle colorado. Our location in western colorado is ideal for learning mountain flying. You'll experience mountain flying first hand as you visit airports throughout colorado such as steamboat, telluride, Gunnison, Aspen and Eagle. Our instructors will teach you what you need to know to fly safely in mountainous terrain from aircraft performance, to weather, to mountain flying strategy, navigation, and survival. We can train you in your aircraft or our rental aircraft. As part of your training you'll visit a variety of airports each with different challenges and experience a variety of different flight scenarios designed to teach you mountain flying in a real world environment. Call us today or visit alpineflighttraining.com for more information.
About Alpine Flight Training
About our flight school, how we work, what we think...
Alpine Flight Training operates at Eagle County Regional Airport and provides flight instruction in accordance with FAA Part 61. Every element of our operation emphasizes safety. We operate a modern Diamond DA-20-C1 aircraft under a rigid maintenance program. The Diamond DA-20-C1 is touted as having the best safety record in the business as well as excellent economy.
For many years now, we have successfully provided flight instruction in the Colorado Rockies and the Western Slope of Colorado. With a good deal of intuition and patience, we prepare our student pilots and private pilots for the FAA Written Exam and Checkride for private pilot and instrument ratings.
Our extensive training programs familiarize first-time fliers with aerodynamics, aircraft systems, airspace, a variety of flight maneuvers, and every other aspect necessary to become a safe and proficient pilot.
A few things about us:
- Our friendly and professional staff is available 7 days per week by appointment.
- We operate modern aircraft.
- We are located at Eagle Airport, near Vail Colorado
- Our flight instructors are patient, friendly, and highly skilled professionals.
- We instruct all levels of students from private to ATP.
- We teach mountain Flying in customer owned aircraft as well as our rental aircraft.
Instructional Philosophy
The last 15 years of watching and participating in the business of flight instruction has brought me to the conclusion that the instructor community is does a poor job of teaching students good reasoning and decision making skills. The message in the most basic sense is that instructors are constantly making decisions to protect students rather than allowing students to gain valuable decision making experience.
Instructors look at the weather, instructors cancel flights, and instructors tell students what to do during the entire course of training. Then, the student takes a check ride, the instructor is gone from the picture and the student has not learned how to effectively manage and evaluate the flight environment. The result is often that the student hurts him or herself and often others.
There are numerous real-world examples of the kind of critical thinking skills that are not being taught. For example, most pilots have the idea that airplanes must land on runways at airports. Some pilots may recognize that a taxi-way is also acceptable, but consider how many private pilots make VFR flights into IMC as a futile effort to make it to an airport. Students need to be taught to think outside the box and consider a variety of alternatives such as... when the weather started to get bad turn around. If it's too bad to turn around where is the nearest airport. Ok, weather is getting even worse... while we can still see something a good decision would be a landing on the road of choice rather than a flight into the mountain.
Here in the Rockies, each year at least one pilot flies the direct route into high terrain without evaluating the variables (density altitude, aircraft performance, terrain elevation). The result is a perfectly good airplane and an otherwise capable pilot hitting a mountain in the remote wilderness. More times than not the result is death.
Our primary goal when working with pilots (ATP's or students) is to teach the pilot what the variables are, how to evaluate the variables and the decision making to resolve the problems rather than rote teaching of hard fast rules and hands on skills. This isn't to say hands-on skills are not important, but as John and Martha King say.... Bad technical skills will result in a trip to the insurance agent, bad decision making skills will kill you.
It is our goal to teach students to recognize when and how variables play into certain situations, and impart a true understanding of how airplanes, the environment, and the pilot have to function together to make flight safe and enjoyable.
Our Instructors
Loren French
Probably the most important thing to know about me is that I learned to fly in the Colorado Rockies, and I have spent the last 15 years flying and teaching extensively in the mountains. My students fly a variety of aircraft ranging from Malibu's to 152's, and everything in between. I also have a BS Degree is Aeronautical Science, was part of the engineering program for the Eclipse 500 Jet, and was formerly a Master CFI, FAA Air Safety Counselor, and a Cirrus Certified Instructor Pilot.
Ratings:
- Airline Transport Pilot – Single Engine Land
- Commercial Pilot – Airplane Multi-Engine Sea, Single Engine Sea, Gliders.
- Flight Instructor: Airplane Single Engine, Airplane Multi-Engine.
- Endorsements: High Performance, Complex, Spin Instruction, Self Launch Gliders.
- Ground Instructor: Advanced and Instrument
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. | |
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.