FWIW

You don't fly down the middle, because that may not leave you enough
space to do a 180 either way - there is always the chance that you may
have to.

You don't fly on the updraft side - even though that initially seems the
safest - because if things change and you need to do a 180, you now have
to turn into the downdraft - which you may not be able to recover from.

So you fly in the downdraft side. If you can handle that you will get
through. If things get worse, at least your 180 will be into a nice safe
updraft.

Maybe not too obvious at first - but when you think about it . . .

That's why I am suggesting a couple of hours training.

Looking forward to reading about your flight

Tony
--

Tony Roberts
PP-ASEL
VFR OTT
Night
Cessna 172H C-GICE

In article nospam-9D7531.23115423042005@shawnews,
tony roberts wrote:

I would take a couple of hours training on mountain flying.
That is all that I fly - I live in a valley!
If the left side of a narrow valley (with an out at the end) has a
downdraft, and the right side has an updraft would you fly left, right
or middle? And why?
If you can't answer that without even thinking about it, a couple of
hours of mountain training would be a good investment. Some areas have
downdrafts of up to 3000 ft per minute. Where would you expect to find
them?

you probably only need a couple of hours - it's fun and it makes you
safer. So my advice is do the training. When you are going down at 3000
ft a minute, it's too late to get the yellow pages out

HTH

Tony
--

Tony Roberts
PP-ASEL
VFR OTT
Night
Cessna 172H C-GICE

In article ,
"Peter R." wrote:

In late May I am planning to fly across the US, from NY to southern
California, with a return stop in Denver, CO. This will be done in a
single-engine, turbo-normalized Bonanza with on-board O2, and this is
the first time I have done this. My plan is to fly the majority of it
under IFR flight rules and at altitudes in the mid-to-upper teens (westerly
wind-depending).

When planning my flight from Palm Springs, CA, to Denver, I have decided to
avoid the high peaks in which a direct flight would result and instead
planned a flight east to Albuquerque, NM, then northeast/north to Denver
across the flat lands of Colorado, east of the mountains.

Disregarding the concept of density altitude as I am already familiar with
its affect on aircraft performance, would it still be advisable for me to
seek out some mountain flying instruction? My intention for this flight
is not to get too near the higher peaks of the Rockies, with the exception
of overflying the southern range in New Mexico.