Mountain wave

Hit a mountain wave today near Pikes Peak at FL190 in my TR-182. First I
couldn't maintain FL190 (I only have 300-400 fpm climb at that altitude
anyway) as my indicated airspeed descended to 80 K. Called ATC, got a block
altitude, FL 180 - 200. About a minute later I needed the upside. Shot to
over 2000 fpm climb (VSI was pegged) and with the nose pointed way down
leveled off at FL 195 and ground speed of 190 knots. Fun stuff.

Michael

I had a similar encounter over the Adirondacks transitting Vermont. My VSI
started indicating a 100-200 ft/min descent and I subsequently pulled up.
Soon I found myself with full power, 80 kts indicated and a sorry-looking
groundspeed. ATC asked about my indicated airspeed and I asked for lower.
Once cleared, (you guessed it) I hit the other side of the wave and my
airspeed went into the yellow arc while maintaining level flight--forcing me
to reduce power. All this in a Warrior at about 6000 feet MSL.

Asked a couple of people about this and the ones who experienced it all
agreed it was freaky at first and all of our initial reactions were to scan
the panel for a problem.

Marco

"Michael 182" wrote in message
news:Bwq0d.166098$Fg5.68105@attbi_s53...
Hit a mountain wave today near Pikes Peak at FL190 in my TR-182. First I
couldn't maintain FL190 (I only have 300-400 fpm climb at that altitude
anyway) as my indicated airspeed descended to 80 K. Called ATC, got a
block altitude, FL 180 - 200. About a minute later I needed the upside.
Shot to over 2000 fpm climb (VSI was pegged) and with the nose pointed
way down leveled off at FL 195 and ground speed of 190 knots. Fun stuff.

Michael

Hmm. What time today were you overflying the peak. My in-laws are in
town and we took them up there around 1400 this afternoon. That was
about the time the snow and freezing rain hit with a lot of high
winds.

Just as a side note, I was out flying around 1100 this morning at COS
and even tho it was calm on the ground, we got up 1000' agl and with
all the virga around, it got real bumpy even at that low an altitude

Scott D.


On Fri, 10 Sep 2004 23:11:34 GMT, "Michael 182"
wrote:

Hit a mountain wave today near Pikes Peak at FL190 in my TR-182. First I
couldn't maintain FL190 (I only have 300-400 fpm climb at that altitude
anyway) as my indicated airspeed descended to 80 K. Called ATC, got a block
altitude, FL 180 - 200. About a minute later I needed the upside. Shot to
over 2000 fpm climb (VSI was pegged) and with the nose pointed way down
leveled off at FL 195 and ground speed of 190 knots. Fun stuff.

Michael

Wait til you hit a rotor. That's REAL fun. My one and only
experience had me lose about 2000' in maybe 10 seconds. People
told me that was impossible, but then they weren't there.
We were negative G for that time.

John

Michael 182 wrote:
Hit a mountain wave today near Pikes Peak at FL190 in my TR-182. First I
couldn't maintain FL190 (I only have 300-400 fpm climb at that altitude
anyway) as my indicated airspeed descended to 80 K. Called ATC, got a block
altitude, FL 180 - 200. About a minute later I needed the upside. Shot to
over 2000 fpm climb (VSI was pegged) and with the nose pointed way down
leveled off at FL 195 and ground speed of 190 knots. Fun stuff.

Michael

I don't understand. You generally don't get mountain wave and virga at the
same time. One requires stable air and the other generally occurs in
unstable air.

Mike
MU-2

Scott D. wrote in message
...
Hmm. What time today were you overflying the peak. My in-laws are in
town and we took them up there around 1400 this afternoon. That was
about the time the snow and freezing rain hit with a lot of high
winds.

Just as a side note, I was out flying around 1100 this morning at COS
and even tho it was calm on the ground, we got up 1000' agl and with
all the virga around, it got real bumpy even at that low an altitude

Scott D.


On Fri, 10 Sep 2004 23:11:34 GMT, "Michael 182"
wrote:

Hit a mountain wave today near Pikes Peak at FL190 in my TR-182. First I
couldn't maintain FL190 (I only have 300-400 fpm climb at that altitude
anyway) as my indicated airspeed descended to 80 K. Called ATC, got a
block
altitude, FL 180 - 200. About a minute later I needed the upside. Shot to
over 2000 fpm climb (VSI was pegged) and with the nose pointed way down
leveled off at FL 195 and ground speed of 190 knots. Fun stuff.

Michael

I was a little west of the Peak at about 2:00pm mountain yesterday. There
were wave clouds evident all over at FL 190, none of which you would have
seen from below the deck.

Michael



Scott D. wrote in message
...
Hmm. What time today were you overflying the peak. My in-laws are in
town and we took them up there around 1400 this afternoon. That was
about the time the snow and freezing rain hit with a lot of high
winds.

Just as a side note, I was out flying around 1100 this morning at COS
and even tho it was calm on the ground, we got up 1000' agl and with
all the virga around, it got real bumpy even at that low an altitude

Scott D.


On Fri, 10 Sep 2004 23:11:34 GMT, "Michael 182"
wrote:

Hit a mountain wave today near Pikes Peak at FL190 in my TR-182. First I
couldn't maintain FL190 (I only have 300-400 fpm climb at that altitude
anyway) as my indicated airspeed descended to 80 K. Called ATC, got a
block
altitude, FL 180 - 200. About a minute later I needed the upside. Shot to
over 2000 fpm climb (VSI was pegged) and with the nose pointed way down
leveled off at FL 195 and ground speed of 190 knots. Fun stuff.

Michael

He saw the virga at 11:00 am. The waves were evident at 2:00 pm. Evidently
the winds hit the front range in the afternoon.

Michael

"Mike Rapoport" wrote in message
k.net...
I don't understand. You generally don't get mountain wave and virga at the
same time. One requires stable air and the other generally occurs in
unstable air.

Mike
MU-2

Scott D. wrote in message
...
Hmm. What time today were you overflying the peak. My in-laws are in
town and we took them up there around 1400 this afternoon. That was
about the time the snow and freezing rain hit with a lot of high
winds.

Just as a side note, I was out flying around 1100 this morning at COS
and even tho it was calm on the ground, we got up 1000' agl and with
all the virga around, it got real bumpy even at that low an altitude

Scott D.


On Fri, 10 Sep 2004 23:11:34 GMT, "Michael 182"
wrote:

Hit a mountain wave today near Pikes Peak at FL190 in my TR-182. First I
couldn't maintain FL190 (I only have 300-400 fpm climb at that altitude
anyway) as my indicated airspeed descended to 80 K. Called ATC, got a
block
altitude, FL 180 - 200. About a minute later I needed the upside. Shot to
over 2000 fpm climb (VSI was pegged) and with the nose pointed way down
leveled off at FL 195 and ground speed of 190 knots. Fun stuff.

Michael

Michael,

Fun stuff.


Now imagine doing that in a glider and getting up to FL300. Did that in
the Lake Tahoe area once. Wow!

--
Thomas Borchert (EDDH)

On Mon, 13 Sep 2004 11:03:24 -0400, Todd Pattist
wrote in
::

BTW, pilots, particularly in airplanes, should be really
careful about slowing down and trying to outclimb a mountain
wave. The preferred response is to put the nose down and go
fast (assuming you can get a clearance for a lower alt if
you're not VFR). It's often impossible to climb faster than
the sinking air. Slowing down just gives teh air longer to
try to shove you down into those granite bumpy things below
that are causing the wave. The best response is usually to
get through the down cycle of the wave as quickly as you
can. It's also the most efficient response, particuarly when
coupled with slowing during the up part of the wave.

Right. That's what glider guiders do: slow in rising air, and dive
through downdrafts.

But when I discussed this with a CFII, he said, "what goes up, comes
down." His advise was to hold a constant airspeed while flying VFR
through wave activity, and permit altitude excursions to occur. In
the end it should all balance out, and the pilot should find himself
at approximately the same altitude at which he entered the wave
activity upon exiting it.

Larry Dighera wrote:

But when I discussed this with a CFII, he said, "what goes up, comes
down." His advise was to hold a constant airspeed while flying VFR
through wave activity, and permit altitude excursions to occur.

As a glider pilot, I've never understood this hold-the-altitude-itis of
my motorised brethren. Deliberately wasting this huge amount of energy
which mother nature offers for free!

Stefan