Two Miles High

[Timebuilder]

Although I wasn't going for max altitude, I did take a 172SP up to 9,500 to take advantage of a strong tailwind. I had a limited amount of time on the rental schedule to accomplish my solo cross country for my commercial, and the headwind on the first leg had been stronger than planned, and I was looking at a late return that would place me squarely in the doghouse.

I was able to chop 30 minutes off the return journey's planned time by reaching a ground speed of 156kts in the Skyhawk. I was seven minutes late, instead of thirty-seven.

 

[ShawnC]

The most majistic flight that I have ever had was when I got up to 6000' AGL in a glider. That was a 4000' altitude gain, getting upto cloud base was a fanatastic feat.

 

[AWACoff]

12,400MSL on 3/20/97 just outside of St. Louis Class B in a TB9. It was very wierd watching traffic arriving into Lambert flying under me. From what I know now, I'm sure the controllers were wondering what that "moron" was doing flying circles on the edge of Class B at the 10pm bank. Doh...

 

[zoom]

High???

Some perspective...

I often takeoff down the runway when the DA is 9,500- 10,000.

Ahh.. Colorado.


zoom

 

[avbug]

Zoom,

In the west, pilots don't think twice of bumping up to 10,000 or higher as a matter of course during routine training, or any real cross country. It's just not a big deal.

The grass is always greener. Pilots who learn to fly in the mountains get a real kick out of taking an airplane down below 5,000...just to see what it performs like at those low altitudes. Pilots who learn to fly at low elevations are shocked and amazed when climbing to the altitudes mountain pilots operate at every day.

The density altitude sitting here at my computer is probably about sixty five hundred or better right now. On a hot day, it will bump up to about nine thousand to ninety five hundred feet. That's just the takeoff. Therefore, operating at higher altitudes isn't a big deal. However, to someone who doesn't normally do that, ten or twelve thousand can certainly seem like a lot of altitude.

I normally jump between 16,000 and 18,000', so to me it's not that high up. To someone who doesn't regularly climb up there in light aircraft, it's a lot of altitude. It's all a matter of perspective. One mans adventure is another mans day at the office. So long as both are satisfied, it doesn't really matter.

 

[zoom]

avbug

Point taken.

I didn't mean to steal anybody's thunder.

In fact, flying so high up is kind of a drag sometimes because when the DA gets too high, we can't fly at all.

I just thought I would ad my two cents by letting people know that there is another world of flying out there... here.

Not better. Not worse. Just different.


zoom

 

[172driver]

Flat or not, I don't see why people don't take trainers higher. I routinely take my students up to 11 or 12,500 on cross countries (in Florida). I do it just to prove to them that you can actually save time by going higher if you plan your descent well. Not to mention the safety factor. Nice to be able to glide 20-25 NM.

They usually think I'm trying to milk them for flight time until they see the Hobbs at the end. I've won a few lunches this way.

Most trainers are fastest (TAS) around 6-8000 and the winds often help out above that.

Takes a while to get up there, but it's fun coming down!

 

[ShawnC]

Peg the ASI at 120 and have a ball coming down. I love the 152

 

[bobbysamd]

Low Altitude flying

I've done most of my multi flying in Seminoles, and most of that at high altitude, starting at 5000 feet field elevation and above. So, typical density altitude would be 8000 or 9000 in summer. Of course, we pulled and shut down engines as part of the multi course. I was lucky to see 20" Hg at full throttle. The airplane was lucky to hold altitude. Normally-aspirated engines, of course.

Then, I went to Vero, with a field elevation of zero. Sea level. Once again, I'm flying Seminoles. My Chief Pilot is standardizing me and has me demonstrate the engine-out drill. I go full throttle and see more that 25" Hg! I got actual climb! He told me to set up 25-square for single-engine cruise. I got peformance!

Of course, I shouldn't have been so surprised, but still, it was amazing.

I'd agree with the others about how performance in the typical light airplane seems to be better around 8000. A good clue is to look at the intro specs page in many POHs. I remember that for that old 172 in which I trained the POH quoted performance at something like 8000. Seeing these things are clues and recommendations for optimum performance.

 

[Fr8Dog]

Beech 18 up to 20,400 VFR