On Sep 19, 4:47 pm, EridanMan wrote:
The other thing to keep in mind is that "headwinds into rising
terrain" is dangerous simply from a mountain flying perspective,
simply because (at least at TRK), your basically flying straight
towards the rotors coming off the Donner Pass, and their associated
turbulence and smash-plane-into-ground downdrafts. As I'm sure you
know, flying perpendicularly towards a mountain ridge without
sufficiant (several thousand) feet of clearance is ALWAYS a bad idea,
especially after take-off and even more so if your also flying into a
head-wind. 45 Degree approach, always - give yourself that out.

Crosswind takeoffs are a no brainer, the only risk is traffic, and
that's what CTAF is for. So yeah, I would have to agree your better
off going crosswind and taking your time to build energy.

I did taking-off-headwind-into-rising-terrain before, the turbulence
was uncomfortable, even though there was enough room to turn
crosswind, then downwind.

This reminds me of a recent crash near L05 (Kern Valley, CA), where
a pilot may have stalled the plane in the pattern.

For L05, I probably would have always landed on 35 and
took off on 17, no matter what wind condition. If the tail wind
is too strong that makes the runway length a factor, I'd either wait
it out for departure, or go else where for landing.

P S