Where does "mountain flying" begin?

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:

At what point does uneven terrain become "mountain flying"?

it is a bit arbitrary; in my neck of the wood, the local
FBOs and clubs tend to set a limit at airports which elevations
are above 2000'; at or above that they require a 'mountain
check out' -- and happily recognize check outs made in other
clubs/FBOs. In my case the check out consisted in spending
a really nice day landing and taking off to/from eight airports
in the Sierra Nevada with an instructor, and it was a lot of
fun :-)

but to answer your question: you could define mountain flying
as operating from any place where the effect of high density
altitude is significant; But this is only one point (albeit a
really important one); actually you don't even need to
go high to get the effect of high density altitude: flying
in the desert in summer can be just as challenging (if not
impossible at some time; part of the check out consists in
showing the the pilot understand the performance charts and
effects of density altitude in the go/no-go decision);

then, you have additional things to take into account due to
terrain, understanding things like waves, convection, where to
expect downdraft, more advanced stuff like canyon flying, etc.

and then you have the really wild altiports as it is called in
some places (I believe that in France, some of these airports
in the Alps require specific checkouts/endorsements -- something
I'd love to do one of these days);

--Sylvain

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?

United. Frontier. Southwest.

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?

In California we define Mountain Flying as anything East. Usually
anything with terrain over about 7,000 feet is Mountain Flying.

-Robert

There is a map in the AIM. Look in the index under "Mountainous Areas".


It's also on the sectionals via the "terrain clearance altitudes" (or
whatever those are called), which are increased by 1000' in mountainous
areas.

On 2006-11-13, Mxsmanic wrote:
At what point does uneven terrain become "mountain flying"?

THIS is mountain flying:

http://www.alioth.net/Video/BackCountry.mp4

(Need an MPEG-4 player - then the free/open source player VideoLAN is a
good one - http://www.videolan.org)

--
Yes, the Reply-To email address is valid.
Oolite-Linux: an Elite tribute: http://oolite-linux.berlios.de

Subject: Where does "mountain flying" begin?

Couple of pictures from Idaho backcountry strips.

http://www.flyidaho.org/dest_c.asp?menuID=103~103

http://www.backcountrypilot.org/gall...up&cat=0&pos=5

http://www.backcountrypilot.org/gall...album=71&pos=3

http://www.backcountrypilot.org/gall...lbum=39&pos=12

http://www.canyonflying.com/updown.html

http://www.flyidaho.org/gallery/view...ake&id=fish_lk

http://www.flyidaho.org/gallery/view...onBa r10_8_04

http://www.flyidaho.org/gallery/view...son_B ar_acc1

Enjoy

Howard
C182

My airport is at 6800' MSL and I never considered flying out of here
as mountain flying. The Rockies just to the west of me is mountain
flying.

Ron Lee

Howard Nelson writes:

Enjoy

I can see why pilots are willing to take the additional risks to fly
in the mountains. The air must be very fresh and clean, too (if a bit
thin).

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

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.