Flatlander heading to Boulder, CO -- need sage advice

Hey all,

I'm planning to head out in my 68 Cherokee 180 the first week of September
with my 20 yr old son to visit my brother in Boulder, CO. I'm a flatlander
(Atlanta, Georgia area) and though I have no plans to do any mountain flying
and wouldn't without instruction, I'm flying towards the mountains. That's
enough to get me looking for some good advice/pointers. An old pilot friend
of mine said carry more speed on final than usual, that sort of thing.
We'll be loaded lightly.

Give me some good pointers if you will.

Thanks,
Biker Bill
(N6422J)

Hey Bill,

I'm planning to head out in my 68 Cherokee 180 the first week of September
with my 20 yr old son to visit my brother in Boulder, CO. I'm a flatlander
(Atlanta, Georgia area) and though I have no plans to do any mountain flying
and wouldn't without instruction, I'm flying towards the mountains. That's
enough to get me looking for some good advice/pointers. An old pilot friend
of mine said carry more speed on final than usual, that sort of thing.
We'll be loaded lightly.

Give me some good pointers if you will.

Please DO NOT carry extra speed on final. An aircraft flys on
INDICATED AIRSPEED! Please fly the book speeds. Yes, they really
work! Now, if there are winds, I can recommend adding to that speed
"1/2 the wind speed and all the gust speed, to a limit of 15 MPH
more than the normal approach speed".

Your GROUND speed will be greater than down at your home altitude,
but your airspeed will be correct.

There are many more myths about high density altitude and mountain
flying dispelled in the Colorado Pilots Associations Mountain Flying
and High Elevation Ground School:
http://www.coloradopilots.org/
see Mountain Flying in the left margin.
Please join us some time.

Best regards,

Jer/ "Flight instruction and mountain flying are my vocations!"
--
Jer/ (Slash) Eberhard, Mountain Flying Aviation, LTD, Ft Collins, CO
CELL 970 231-6325 EMAIL jeratfrii.com http://users.frii.com/jer/
C-206 N9513G, CFII Airplane&Glider FAA-DEN Aviation Safety Counselor
CAP-CO Mission&Aircraft CheckPilot BM218 HAM N0FZD 240 Young Eagles!

First off, you fly the same indicated airspeed, for the
gross weight, whether at 5 MSL or 5,000. Your TAS will be
higher and you will use more runway for take-off and
landings.
Be sure to do a review of proper leaning procedures, proper
leaning is essential to get maximum possible power on
take-off. If you have an EGT, use it to get the true best
power mixture. Otherwise, lean to maximum RPM in a full
power static run-up.
If the wind is from the west, expect turbulence from the
nearby mountains.
Get the Denver local chart.

Be amazed at the 100 plus mile visibility. Fly before it
get hot during the day.

Hire a qualified mountain CFI and go for a sight seeing
flight into the mountains if the weather is good.

The AOPA has some mountain flying articles and an
on-line course
http://www.aopa.org/asf/online_courses/mountain_flying/

download the file
http://www.aopa.org/asf/publications/sa23.pdf on mountain
flying.


--
James H. Macklin
ATP,CFI,A&P

wrote in message
news | Hey all,
|
| I'm planning to head out in my 68 Cherokee 180 the first
week of September
| with my 20 yr old son to visit my brother in Boulder, CO.
I'm a flatlander
| (Atlanta, Georgia area) and though I have no plans to do
any mountain flying
| and wouldn't without instruction, I'm flying towards the
mountains. That's
| enough to get me looking for some good advice/pointers. An
old pilot friend
| of mine said carry more speed on final than usual, that
sort of thing.
| We'll be loaded lightly.
|
| Give me some good pointers if you will.
|
| Thanks,
| Biker Bill
| (N6422J)

wrote:

Give me some good pointers if you will.

Hey, Bill, I don't hold a candle to either of the two previous posters in
terms of experience, but I have been to Denver twice in the last year or
so, the most recent being last week where I landed and hangared at Erie
Muni, just east/southeast or so of Boulder.

If you can plan a before-noon arrival into Boulder, you will be less likely
to encounter strong t-storms that seem to build over the mountains during
the morning hours, then drift eastward after noon. I am not sure how
September's weather differs from July's though. Perhaps it is more benign.

I didn't heed my own advice last week and instead arrived VFR ahead of a
cell and had to scramble once down to unload the aircraft before the rain
arrived.

Also, if you haven't already, pick up a copy of the Denver Terminal chart
(even if you are IFR, in the event you want to depart VFR to pick up your
clearance) so that you know the class B shelf altitudes. Just north and
west of Denver, there are all kinds of class B altitudes for you to watch
if you are VFR.




--
Peter

In article ,
wrote:

Hey all,

I'm planning to head out in my 68 Cherokee 180 the first week of September
with my 20 yr old son to visit my brother in Boulder, CO. I'm a flatlander
(Atlanta, Georgia area) and though I have no plans to do any mountain flying
and wouldn't without instruction, I'm flying towards the mountains. That's
enough to get me looking for some good advice/pointers. An old pilot friend
of mine said carry more speed on final than usual, that sort of thing.
We'll be loaded lightly.

Give me some good pointers if you will.

Thanks,
Biker Bill
(N6422J)

One thing to practice (on a long runway) is partial power takeoffs, to
get you used to the reduced available power at Boulder (some 5000+ MSL).

This will give you some feel for what a takeoff there will look and feel
like. The airplane will fly as if it has dead weights tied to it and
feel as if the engine isn't putting out much power, because it isn't.

The previous posts to keep weight to a minimum are good, too.

Carrying extra airspeed on final is how flat landers (low landers) go long
off the end of the runway.

Fly the same speeds you would always fly at your home airport.. just be
aware, that the ground speed (TAS) will be faster and it will "appear" that
you are fast, but wings fly on IAS.

BT

wrote in message
news
Hey all,

I'm planning to head out in my 68 Cherokee 180 the first week of September
with my 20 yr old son to visit my brother in Boulder, CO. I'm a
flatlander
(Atlanta, Georgia area) and though I have no plans to do any mountain
flying
and wouldn't without instruction, I'm flying towards the mountains.
That's
enough to get me looking for some good advice/pointers. An old pilot
friend
of mine said carry more speed on final than usual, that sort of thing.
We'll be loaded lightly.

Give me some good pointers if you will.

Thanks,
Biker Bill
(N6422J)

Boulder has some specific traffic conditions. The glider pattern is inside
of the
power pattern. You need to be very aware of the local traffic pattern,
especially the location and direction.

Wind can switch quickly out there. Winds can be quite a factor, and often
vary
considerably in both direction and velocity when wave conditions are
happening.

Oh, and no matter the safety considerations or anything else, don't disturb
the birds or prairie dogs. Live traps have been known to appear overnight
on the ends of the runway. We certainly don't want to endanger the
critters.



wrote in message ...
Hey all,

I'm planning to head out in my 68 Cherokee 180 the first week of September
with my 20 yr old son to visit my brother in Boulder, CO. I'm a flatlander
(Atlanta, Georgia area) and though I have no plans to do any mountain
flying
and wouldn't without instruction, I'm flying towards the mountains. That's
enough to get me looking for some good advice/pointers. An old pilot friend
of mine said carry more speed on final than usual, that sort of thing.
We'll be loaded lightly.

Give me some good pointers if you will.

Thanks,
Biker Bill
(N6422J)

Just take off in Atlanta and climb to 6500'. Stay at that altitude and
when you get to Boulder, you will be at pattern altitude! (actually
pattern altitude is 6300'). Run at full power. Lean for best rpm (at
6300'). See how far out the lean knob is? That is how far out it should
be for takeoff too (plus 3 half turns in). We lean on the ground at
runup for takeoffs at these altitudes. Learn how to do that if you
don't know how. This time of year is bumpy below the cumulus and if we
have rain, it is thunderstorms you can see and go around. So go around
them. The weather is good for flying in the summer in Colorado. Have
fun and see ya!

Just be aware that on a hot day in the Denver area, 35C is
possible, even higher on the air above the paved runway.
That can make the density altitude near 10,000 feet on the
surface. Take-off performance and service ceilings will be
reduced. Climb gradient will be shallow. Pack like a
backpacker. If you land with a lot of luggage, remember for
the return home, UPS and FedEx can reduce you load of
non-essentials for the departure for home.


--
James H. Macklin
ATP,CFI,A&P



wrote in message
oups.com...
|
| wrote:
| Hey all,
|
| I'm planning to head out in my 68 Cherokee 180 the first
week of September
| with my 20 yr old son to visit my brother in Boulder,
CO. I'm a flatlander
|
| To all the good things mentioned by others, I can only add
this:
| Make sure you know your density altitude calculations.
| I used to live up there in the Front Range area, of which
Boulder is a
| part. Periodically, people would crunch at the end of the
runway
| because they forgot that they are at 5000 feet, not 500
like it was
| when the took off from the bayous or coastline. It can
still be quite
| warm in September, which will raise the density altitude
even more.
|
| Have fun! It's a pretty area.
|

wrote:
Hey all,

I'm planning to head out in my 68 Cherokee 180 the first week of September
with my 20 yr old son to visit my brother in Boulder, CO. I'm a flatlander
(Atlanta, Georgia area) and though I have no plans to do any mountain flying
and wouldn't without instruction, I'm flying towards the mountains. That's
enough to get me looking for some good advice/pointers. An old pilot friend
of mine said carry more speed on final than usual, that sort of thing.
We'll be loaded lightly.

Give me some good pointers if you will.

Thanks,
Biker Bill
(N6422J)


The real mountains begin just west of Boulder, so you will not have to
do any serious mountain flying to get to Boulder from the east. Density
altitude may be a factor, but if you are lightly loaded, that would not
be an issue either. The runway at Boulder is 4000 ft, which may seem
long, but will disappear faster than you are used to if the DA is high.
So DO NOT carry extra speed on final. If you are not comfortable with
that, land at Jeffco which is only a few miles away and has much longer
runways.