On Fri, 14 Sep 2007 23:58:42 -0400, "Roger (K8RI)"
wrote:

On Thu, 13 Sep 2007 20:24:39 -0600, Newps wrote:



wrote:

And several Mountain Flying books mention that specifically. The
official temperature anywhere is always in the shade. Ever seen a
runway in the shade?


The runway will no doubt have a higher temperature and the air above
will be warmer than reported but how high would you need to fly to
reach the reported air temperature as measured in the shade?



An irrelevant question if you can't get there in the first place. But
if you want an answer just look at the standard lapse rate as a start.

Even with a light breeze you should be out of the rising, high
temperature air in 30 to 50 feet unless the breeze is right down the
runway. (or if it's calm)

Roger (K8RI)

That's the direction of my thinking so this incident it may not be a
simple density altitude problem. I hope I never have a problem like
this guy. The worst experience I had was a 500m grass runway in a
Warrior with 3 people (not too heavy) and half fuel. I was used to
grass but this was about 8" and the fence looked quite close on
take-off :-( After that I was over water. Made me think more about
soft-field take-off which I now practice frequently even with a 6000ft
runway!