Where does "mountain flying" begin?

At the airport?
--
Gene Seibel
Tales of Flight - http://pad39a.com/gene/tales.html
Because I fly, I envy no one.


Mxsmanic wrote:
At what point does uneven terrain become "mountain flying"? Do
rolling hills represent a problem? Is there a threshold of ruggedness
or altitude or some other distinctive characteristic of terrain (other
than variable elevation) that serves as a warning that mountain flying
skills will be necessary?

If you don't have mountain flying skills, and your departure and
destination are on opposite sides of a mountain range that is too long
to practically go around, what's the plan?

--
Transpose mxsmanic and gmail to reach me by e-mail.

Mxsmanic wrote:

If you don't have mountain flying skills, and your departure and
destination are on opposite sides of a mountain range that is too long
to practically go around, what's the plan?

Go under!

(Appropriate answer for the cementhead)

"Matt Barrow" wrote:
Mxsmanic wrote:

If you don't have mountain flying skills, and your departure and
destination are on opposite sides of a mountain range that is too long
to practically go around, what's the plan?

Go under!

Hey - that worked for Buckaroo Bonzai! ;-)

Mxsmanic wrote:

If you don't have mountain flying skills, and your departure and
destination are on opposite sides of a mountain range that is too long
to practically go around, what's the plan?


Flying over a mountain range is not mountain flying. Mountain flying is
flying in the mountains, below the peaks, relatively close to the ground
in the valleys and passes.

"Newps" wrote

Flying over a mountain range is not mountain flying. Mountain flying is
flying in the mountains, below the peaks, relatively close to the ground in
the valleys and passes.

Are you sure you want to subscribe to that strict definition?

It seems to me that dealing with mountain waves, rotors, updrafts and
downdrafts, precipitation formed from air rising over the mountains, and some
other thing (no doubt) would still fall under the classification of mountain
flying.

No?
--
Jim in NC

On 2006-11-16 17:24:33 -0700, "Morgans" said:


"Newps" wrote

Flying over a mountain range is not mountain flying. Mountain flying
is flying in the mountains, below the peaks, relatively close to the
ground in the valleys and passes.

Are you sure you want to subscribe to that strict definition?

It seems to me that dealing with mountain waves, rotors, updrafts and
downdrafts, precipitation formed from air rising over the mountains,
and some other thing (no doubt) would still fall under the
classification of mountain flying.

No?

Mountain CFI I have talked to seem to stick to the definition of
encountering any terrain 7500 ft or higher. Or course, with 14,000
peaks a couple miles from here that is easy to agree with.

Newps writes:

Flying over a mountain range is not mountain flying. Mountain flying is
flying in the mountains, below the peaks, relatively close to the ground
in the valleys and passes.

So is it relatively safe to fly over mountains if you clear them by
some reasonable altitude (1000 feet? 5000 feet?)?

Granted, that might be difficult in the Rockies with a small aircraft.

What about flying through relatively large valleys between mountains,
in order to avoid the mountains themselves? I mean, you have to get
from California to Colorado somehow.

--
Transpose mxsmanic and gmail to reach me by e-mail.

Mxsmanic schrieb:

I mean, you have to get
from California to Colorado somehow.

You can always take the train.

Stefan

There really is no way to avoid mountains flying from Colorado to
California. There is a route that has the lowest altitude possible, but
still, you are going to have mountains.

On Thu, 16 Nov 2006 18:38:00 -0800, Doug wrote:
There really is no way to avoid mountains flying from Colorado to
California. There is a route that has the lowest altitude possible, but
still, you are going to have mountains.

Fly south to the Panama canal and follow it? Not sure about the terrain
that they had to blast through to make it, but it's probably not *that*
bad... grin

The further south you go, the better the route gets... When I flew from
Houston to SoCal a few years ago, I noticed that the southern route
through El Paso that I took on the way back was quite a bit better than
the route past the Grand Canyon that I had taken on the way over there...