Plane down on Vail Pass

I return to my original comment -- why over the mountains
in a single engine aircraft with no easy out?


I do it with no problem but I have taken the mountain flying course
and I usually have beaucoup distance between me and terra firma.

Unless some mechanical problem caused this incident odds are it was
pilot error.

Ron Lee

Ron Lee wrote:
I return to my original comment -- why over the mountains
in a single engine aircraft with no easy out?


I do it with no problem but I have taken the mountain flying course
and I usually have beaucoup distance between me and terra firma.

Unless some mechanical problem caused this incident odds are it was
pilot error.

Ron -- we agree that yes, it can be done. And I've taken the
mountain flying course (more than once - never hurts) but as you
pointed out, big air between you and ground. Based on the density
altitude, doesn't seem that there was that much space between
the aircraft and the ground.

Fortunately, no fatalities, the pax is in very good humor (according
to the interviews yesterday) and the pilot is improving.

Ron Lee wrote:



and I usually have beaucoup distance between me and terra firma.


Then you're not mountain flying.

Newps wrote:

Ron Lee wrote:


and I usually have beaucoup distance between me and terra firma.

Then you're not mountain flying.


OK, you fly over the mountains your way....I will fly mine

Why fly through passes when you can fly several thousand feet over
them?

Ron Lee

Ron Lee wrote:
Newps wrote:


Ron Lee wrote:


and I usually have beaucoup distance between me and terra firma.


Then you're not mountain flying.



OK, you fly over the mountains your way....I will fly mine

Why fly through passes when you can fly several thousand feet over
them?

That's up to you but when people talk about mountain flying they are in
or very near the mountains. Flying a couple thousand feet over the
mountains is just a cross country, you can do that in Iowa.

Newps wrote:
Ron Lee wrote:

and I usually have beaucoup distance between me and terra firma.

Then you're not mountain flying.

Take a look at these pics and tell me that I am not mountain flying:

http://www.pcisys.net/~ronlee/RV6A/LaVetaNorth1.jpg

http://www.pcisys.net/~ronlee/RV6A/5...soSkiArea1.jpg

http://www.pcisys.net/~ronlee/RV6A/M...oMtnsSmall.jpg

http://www.pcisys.net/~ronlee/RV6A/M...aPassSmall.jpg

http://www.pcisys.net/~ronlee/RV6A/M...DunesSmall.jpg

http://www.pcisys.net/~ronlee/RV6A/G...gPassSmall.jpg

http://www.pcisys.net/~ronlee/RV6A/S...tainsSmall.jpg

Of course if you only consider it mountain flying if you can count
pine cones that is your choice.

Ron Lee

Those are pictures of flying well over the terrain and quite a distance from
the mountains, they do not really depict "mountain flying"

Mike
MU-2


"Ron Lee" wrote in message
...
Newps wrote:
Ron Lee wrote:

and I usually have beaucoup distance between me and terra firma.

Then you're not mountain flying.

Take a look at these pics and tell me that I am not mountain flying:

http://www.pcisys.net/~ronlee/RV6A/LaVetaNorth1.jpg

http://www.pcisys.net/~ronlee/RV6A/5...soSkiArea1.jpg

http://www.pcisys.net/~ronlee/RV6A/M...oMtnsSmall.jpg

http://www.pcisys.net/~ronlee/RV6A/M...aPassSmall.jpg

http://www.pcisys.net/~ronlee/RV6A/M...DunesSmall.jpg

http://www.pcisys.net/~ronlee/RV6A/G...gPassSmall.jpg

http://www.pcisys.net/~ronlee/RV6A/S...tainsSmall.jpg

Of course if you only consider it mountain flying if you can count
pine cones that is your choice.

Ron Lee

Mike Rapoport wrote:
Those are pictures of flying well over the terrain and quite a distance from
the mountains, they do not really depict "mountain flying"

So -- can we agree on a definition of "mountain flying" before we
start getting snotty?

Blanche wrote:

Mike Rapoport wrote:
Those are pictures of flying well over the terrain and quite a distance from
the mountains, they do not really depict "mountain flying"

So -- can we agree on a definition of "mountain flying" before we
start getting snotty?

Perhaps mountain flying is where you have minimal terrain separation.
Not my idea of smart if you encounter a downdraft due to mountain wave
action...which I have.

Would you say that the pilot who impacted mountainous terrain in the
Vail Pass area was mountain flying?

Who would you rather fly with....him or me?

Ron Lee

Ron Lee wrote:



Perhaps mountain flying is where you have minimal terrain separation.

Yes. You are flying in the valleys, below the tops of the ridges.


Not my idea of smart if you encounter a downdraft due to mountain wave
action...which I have.

Well that's the skill level you need to attain. It's not safe to fly in
the mountains all the time. On clear sunny days after about 11 am it
gets too turbulent to fly in the mountains, you run into those
downdrafts you talk about. Get up early and you can fly over the
mounatin passes at a few hundred feet agl as easily as you fly over
anywhere else.



Would you say that the pilot who impacted mountainous terrain in the
Vail Pass area was mountain flying?

I don't know what his altitude was when he had whatever problem he had.
He ended up in the mountains, I don't know where he started.



Who would you rather fly with....him or me?

Neither. He crashed and you avoid the mountains like they will reach up
and grab you.