Mountain flying knowledge required?

"tony roberts" wrote in message
news:nospam-77BFC6.20093724042005@shawnews...
Wrong. You fly on the downwind side, also known as the updraft side.
If you lose your engine and you are in a downdraft just how smart is
that? You don't knowingly fly in downdrafts, unless of course you want
to go down.

I guess we'll agree to differ.
I live in the mountains.
All of my flying is in the mountains.
I did my mountain flying training with some of the best.
I'll do it exactly the way I explained in my last post.

And I will admit that what you are describing is the way that most 300
hour flight instructors in the USA are taught to teach it. But I did my
mountain flying training with two Alaska bush pilots who are two of the
best. And they taught me consistently, never fly on the more favourable
side - because you have nowhere to go if you need to turn. You should
ALWAYS be able to turn into lift when flying canyons.

That's fine. This group is all about difference of opinion and debate -
that's how we learn. This time, we just happen to be on different sides
of the question

Tony


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

How did you determine that these two pilots are "two of the best"? There
are hundreds if not thousands of bush pilots in AK all of whom think that
they are among the best. The only ones who don't think this are certain
that they are "the" very best.

In the case you are describing, flying on the upwind side, you are vastly
more likely to fly into the other side of the canyon because you will be
turning downwind, increasing the turn radius dramatically. Sure, there are
situations where starting on the upwind side might be better but saying that
the upwind side is *always* better is nuts. In fact, nearly every bush
pilot and mountain flying instructor flys on the downwind side.

Mike
MU-2, ATP
Helio Courier, Student Pilot