Practice mountain flying

Well, I couldn’t get to the slopes in Big Bear (both Lyft and Uber informed me, repeatedly, “no cars available,” and I missed the bus pick-up; thinking it might be worth buying a $1500 beater to keep at the airport, monthly car parking is $25…). But I did get a chance to practice my mountain flying skills. First landing and departing at Big Bear, and then, since I didn’t want to waste the day, I did a “no pressure dry run” flight up to Mammoth, up the Owens Valley. Stayed to the east side of the valley (prevailing winds from the west, staying away from the leeward side meant a significantly reduced chance of mountain wave downdrafts) and brought power back to about 19" manifold pressure and 2350 RPM at 10,500', which kept the plane comfortably at or below VA (135 MPH indicated airspeed), and also meant my true airspeed was a bit lower, which would have been handy had I needed to make any turns inside the valley. (Did a mountain flying training trip with a Proteus instructor who learned to fly in the Alps, and I’ve been doing some light reading.)


Comments

Post a Comment