Iowa to Washington State?

As you go farther north they get lower. On a direct line between DSM and
Sequim, the highest terrain is 10,000. With a two short zigs and zags, the
highest terrain is below 8000'. When are you going?

Mike
MU-2

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:ENfic.12459$w96.1176412@attbi_s54...
According to Destination Direct, we are just 10.5 hours away from my
sister
in Sequim, WA.

D.D. routes us northwest to Billings, Montana, and then west from there.
The terrain looks very high, indeed.

Can Atlas make the jump? Is it possible for a normally aspirated plane
(and pilots!) to fly over the Rockies? How high must one go?

Thanks in advance...
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

"EDR" wrote in message
...
O2 may not be required, but I would recommend it.

Recommended, sure, I'll agree with that. If nothing else, it will make a
huge difference in your condition by the end of the flight. Not only will
the final approach and landing go better, you'll feel a lot better and less
tired too.

But I don't think that was Jay's original question. And he's been here
long enough to see others post on the virtues of oxygen even when not
mandated by FAR.

Pete

"David Brooks" wrote in message
...
I thought it was due to radar coverage? However, I could believe it's
Mount
Stuart. BTW, from memory the MEA is 12K, so you'd see 13K eastbound. In
any
case, yes, that's much higher than necessary for VFR.

I'm almost certain it's due to the terrain under the route. It's fun
watching the solitary mountain go by underneath as you fly by (when visual
conditions prevail, of course). I think you're right about the 12K/13K
thing though. All I could recall off the top of my head is that I knew I
wound up at 13K. Had I bothered to look at a chart I would've realized what
the actual MEA is.

In any case, the point is that it's easily doable VFR along that route,
without oxygen.

If you follow I-90, watch for the sharp turn at Snoqualmie Pass (the main
pass over the Cascades). At least one plane has missed the turn and come
to
grief in a nearby canyon.

IMHO, if you are crossing Snoqualmie Pass for the first time and you are low
enough that you have to follow the highway rather than cutting the corner,
you are too low.

That's just me though. I suppose others would disagree.

Pete

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:ENfic.12459$w96.1176412@attbi_s54...
According to Destination Direct, we are just 10.5 hours away from my
sister
in Sequim, WA.

D.D. routes us northwest to Billings, Montana, and then west from there.
The terrain looks very high, indeed.

Can Atlas make the jump? Is it possible for a normally aspirated plane
(and pilots!) to fly over the Rockies? How high must one go?

Thanks in advance...
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"



Jay H,

My CFI just got back from flying up to the Denver area in a C172SP.

He says they had to touch the "soft underbelly" of 13,500' in a couple of
spots.

To me, that's a little too high to be in a 172 ... but he thougt it was "a
hoot!"

Regards,

Jay B

As you go farther north they get lower. On a direct line between DSM and
Sequim, the highest terrain is 10,000. With a two short zigs and zags,
the
highest terrain is below 8000'. When are you going?

Ha! First the kids have to be out of school, I have to set up staffing at
the hotel, and -- the biggie -- convince Mary that it's doable.

It would also help if our annual next month is a merciful one. ;-)

We're working so many airshows this summer, we have very little free time
left. Best bet looks like around July 4th weekend, which (strangely enough)
is traditionally very quiet in Iowa City.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Jay

One more item that has not been mention in this thread.

Be sure and check density altitude at the airports you take off from
enroute. Even with 235 HP you might, due to loading (pax, fuel, dog,
baggage, etc.) get pretty close to the edge of the envelope. Set down
and compute what your T/O performance is at 60-65% power to get a feel
of what you might run into in the warmer WX and high altitude fields.

You might have to schedule some early morning T/O's if temp gets up.
Of course that is not al bad as the 'ride' is normally better before
the humps and bumps come up with the heat of the day.

After all that has been posted, fly conservative and you should have a
good trip and see lots of country besides corn field after soy bean
field after corn field after soy bean field as far as the eye can see
)

Watch the WX and have a good trip.

Big John


On Fri, 23 Apr 2004 22:07:59 GMT, "Jay Honeck"
wrote:

The early airmail pilots did it. I'm pretty sure the Rockies aren't
significantly higher now than they were then.

True, but with an unacceptably high degree of risk. Their accident and
mortality rates were appalling.

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:xgtic.18359$IW1.975446@attbi_s52...

We're working so many airshows this summer, we have very little free time
left. Best bet looks like around July 4th weekend, which

is just about time for the NWEAA Fly-in at Arlington, WA.

Jay Beckman wrote:

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
[snip]
D.D. routes us northwest to Billings, Montana, and then west from there.
The terrain looks very high, indeed.

Can Atlas make the jump? Is it possible for a normally aspirated plane
(and pilots!) to fly over the Rockies? How high must one go?

Jay H,

My CFI just got back from flying up to the Denver area in a C172SP.

He says they had to touch the "soft underbelly" of 13,500' in a couple of
spots.

To me, that's a little too high to be in a 172 ... but he thougt it was "a
hoot!"

JayB:

If Denver was the target, where did he start? I live in Denver
(well, the 'burbs') and even going west, never need to go that
high for VFR.

Jay,
I went Everett, WA to Sheridan, WY with a stop in Missoula, MT then onto
St. Louis, MO.
This route is doable. We have the same horse power engine. Take the O2.
I went at 12-14 K to keep some distance between me and the ground.
Michelle

Jay Honeck wrote:

According to Destination Direct, we are just 10.5 hours away from my sister
in Sequim, WA.

D.D. routes us northwest to Billings, Montana, and then west from there.
The terrain looks very high, indeed.

Can Atlas make the jump? Is it possible for a normally aspirated plane
(and pilots!) to fly over the Rockies? How high must one go?

Thanks in advance...



--

Michelle P ATP-ASEL, CP-AMEL, and AMT-A&P

"Elisabeth" a Maule M-7-235B (no two are alike)

Volunteer Pilot, Angel Flight Mid-Atlantic

Volunteer Builder, Habitat for Humanity

"Blanche" wrote in message
...
Jay Beckman wrote:

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
[snip]
D.D. routes us northwest to Billings, Montana, and then west from
there.
The terrain looks very high, indeed.

Can Atlas make the jump? Is it possible for a normally aspirated
plane
(and pilots!) to fly over the Rockies? How high must one go?

Jay H,

My CFI just got back from flying up to the Denver area in a C172SP.

He says they had to touch the "soft underbelly" of 13,500' in a couple of
spots.

To me, that's a little too high to be in a 172 ... but he thougt it was
"a
hoot!"

JayB:

If Denver was the target, where did he start? I live in Denver
(well, the 'burbs') and even going west, never need to go that
high for VFR.



Blanche...

They departed from/returned to KCHD: Chandler Municipal Airport in the SE
part of the Phoenix, AZ valley.

Jay B