Mountain flying knowledge required?

Blanche wrote:


And what happens if the engine conks out? Where do you land? How do
you land?

Maybe he should also take glider lessons, mountain survival,
parachuting, and aerobatics prior to the flight. I mean, those
disciplines have just as much relevance if not more should a forced
landing be immanent.

How does a knowledge of mountain flying help you to land with and engine
out? And how would that differ from any other no-engine landing?
About the only thing I could think of would be to try to estimate winds
and direction based on terrain features. Read Sparky's book and you have
some theory to work off of but, really....do you think that this would
sufficiently arm you for an encounter with the winds in the mountains?
If you do then you have never flown *in* the mountains!

As far as *where* you land...you land wherever you can; as in
non-mountainous terrain.

And when that happens, all of a sudden you need to worry about
mountain waves, density altitude, valley winds, etc. Calculate
glide distance from 16K and tell me where & how you're going to
land.

Well...if you know how far you can glide at 1000 ft you can multiply by
sixteen. But that calculation would only give you the no-wind
theoretical distance. It also something every pilot should know
regardless of whether they are in the mountains or not.

And, come on! Are you really going to pull out the ole' whiz wheel and
think about "...density altitude, valley winds, etc." when you are
dead-sticking it to a suitable landing site? Generally, you *might*
have one place to land that is suitable and you can bet your gold-plated
E6B you'll take it regardless of the "density altitude".


I have always considered mountain flying to be flying *in* the mountains
and the things that concern a mountain pilot to be at or below the
peaks. Is this incorrect?


yes.

Really? And minus the engine out scenario, you think the guy cruising
over the peaks at 16-19,000 ft is in need of *mountain flying* skills?
That ain't *mountain flying* in my book...neither is it in
Sparký's.(Which, I agree, is a great book!)

Sorry, but I respectfully disagree.

Antonio