December flight from the Denver front range up to Leadville and Buena Vista. It was a beautiful day for mountain flying in the Arrow II. My mountain flight instructor was Matt Beyer. Check him out at www.mattbeyer.com.
Fun to fly into Leadville in the winter. Air density is the best. I almost didn't get out of the valley, one time, in the Summer after taking off from Leadville back in the 90's in a 172.
Great video I always won't to land at Leadville airport. I did flown over it but didn't have the time to do it. I flown over it when I went to Denver. I remember how ruff it was flying in the rockies. it was one my must bumpy fights in the the rockies I ever flown. Its was so ruff I said next time I will fly around them then threw them. this was 35 years ago. I was in a piper Comanche 260.
10 miles out radio call.. but you need to specify in which direction you are 10 miles out at... North, or south? it makes a huge difference for others to know where you are located.
Guess you can say that all your flying from now on will be downhill. In the 80s I drove up from Denver to visit LXV and talk to the airport operators. Their stories about hunters flying in with overloaded airplanes and expecting to fuel up and take off again were enlightening. Front Range has certainly filled in since I took pilot training there in the 90s. Keep it safe and please stay out of helicopters landing off airport at night.
Administered many low land pilot checkouts in the mountain airports of Colorado. I have been to all of the paved ones in single and multi-engine airplanes and helicopters. Landing an airplane or helicopter in all of the fifty states was on my wish list for many years until completed in 2010. Used to receive a certificate for landing at Leadville, but perhaps that has gone by the wayside? Some corporate jets land there when they cannot get into Eagle or Rifle. Great times in the mountains of Colorado!!
Nicely done. A couple comments about mountain flying, especially in summer and with loads. A major consideration is down drainage egress, which you chose. Wind management might dictate a up drainage takeoff, not so bad there. During very high DA and with a load at many mountain airports, down drainage may still be the safer choice. Low ground effect energy, by default, is generally left unused or at least underused. This is especially true in higher performance airplanes. Once we leave low ground effect, six inches for the crop duster but three feet is fine, we begin to bleed that extra airspeed potential that ground effect freely gives. Coming off an aircraft carrier like Leadville, Sedona, or Farmington, NM, nonexistent there Vx nor Vy is ever appropriate. Extra altitude over obstructions for safety is not safe. Giving up airspeed, life in maneuvering flight such a airport operations, is traded for insufficient altitude at the end of the runway. Stall/spin into the runway is still stall/spin. In the mountains all but really powerful airplanes spend most of the flight in the maneuvering flight envelope, too low to recover from inadvertent stall. Limiting the bank to make the turn is not the solution to load factor where horizontal space is limited. The airplane is designed so that the nose goes down naturally in turns. Dynamic neutral stability make the airplane incapable of stalling itself. Anywhere but especially during high DA maneuvering flight, we must turn at whatever bank is necessary to target the bottom of the drainage. This can be done safely if we simply don't pull back on the stick to maintain altitude and allow the airplane to do what it wants to do to keep us alive. And in the Rockies, there is generally plenty of vertical space available down drainage.
@@jonconner3019 Everywhere except marshland but especially in the mountains, rainfall and snow melt drain to large bodies of water at lower MSL altitude. The Rio Grande and Arkansas drain to the Gulf of Mexico, the Colorado and Green drain to the Gulf of Baha, the Sacramento drains to the Pacific, etc. When in the mountains especially, but everywhere in low power aircraft, we need to know and favor down drainage egress from the airport. When wind or terrain dictates an up drainage takeoff in uneven terrain, getting turned back down drainage may be the only out without ridge lift or thermal lift over higher terrain. Wings level Vy until altitude is gained is a false hope. With powerful airplanes and lots of gas, dangerous until up high slow circling climbs are how pilots usually get up and over the pass. 12 gallons in front of me in a 65 hp Champ going 60 mph when level is not going to get me over the pass and to the next distant airport after an hour of circling climb. Starting from the airport and using wind management (ridge lift) may well be a safer way to go up drainage and eventually (if all works out) over the pass. That requires staying very close to the ridge and parallel to the ridge. That requires a turn back with the bottom of the drainage as the target of the turn without trying to hold altitude (relax the back pressure) should it not work out. Thermalling up on course by flying slow in updrafts and fast through downdrafts works as well, especially in desert mountains with less foliage. Regardless, flying everywhere in the Rockies in 65 hp, 75 hp, 100 hp, and 145-150 hp trainers, I never left any airport without considering down drainage egress initially. Did I need it every time? No. Did it save my bacon sometimes? Yes. Would it have saved some of the twin engine and powerful single engine fatal accidents like the Comanche (I think it was at Angel Fire)? Yes. Yes it would have saved them.
@@jimmydulin928 Thank you. I am also flying a PA28R 200 out of the bay area and have a daughter in Denver and a sister in Breck so am looking into doing this at some point. I just started reading the Mountain Flying book and will probably take the BoldMethod mountain flying online course. If you ever want to fly in CO together, I’d be happy to take you with me. I bought my plane in Billings this time last year to learn in and flew it to KOAK with my CFII. I learned a fair bit from a guy we took to Afton on the way, but want to know more! Winter seems like the best time to fly in the mountains, summer seems like a rare chance especially in Rockies and Tetons that you don’t get convective activity. All the best!
Cool for you! Never took by 1947 bonanza in to an airport higher than 500’ msl🤪. Was it mushy landing and taking off? I have landed at LaPaz Bolivia, 13,314’ msl, but that was in a Boeing 757!😉Good video, good tunes.
Fun times! Be working on my Mtn checkout as soon as I complete my transition into my V35 (KGXY). Curious about your Mtn checkout checkout experience? Thx!
Hello! I didn't have a formal checkout but ran a couple of different routes through passes with the instructor. So far on my own I've stayed in those corridors. Good luck on your next steps!
I tuned through all the Sirius XM channels looking for airplane noise. Couldn't find any. I called them and they told me that airplane noise could be found on You Tube and music was played on Sirius XM. OK Steveo?
Great video! Thank you! What software do you use to edit and stitch your GoPro videos together? Do you turn on all your cameras (think you have 4) and record all for flight and then download and edit clips? I also have an Arrow and installed some GoPros but didn't know how/if you used the Quik app to do all this or diff editing tools. Thank you for your feedback.
Thank you for watching! You are correct I record on all 4 cameras with sound captured on the camera looking at us for easier syncing, then pull the footage onto the computer and use a software called HitFilm for editing. I use the pay version but they have a very powerful free version I started on. I’d love to see your content too, I’m an Arrow lover! Are you in Colorado by chance?
@@mohlenair I really like my plane. Just did a new interior and new G5’s and G275’s and a 355 GPS. My auto pilot only turns left or right never sure what it will do. My seats are so comfortable I was cleaning it a few days ago and fell asleep sitting in the copilots seat. Only thing I find annoying is hot starts, it is a jerk.
@@mohlenair Happy I am not the only one. Have you thought about the E-Mags? I have heard some good but most refer to them as POS’s and the same number installed at my airport have been removed and replaced with a new mag. I just can’t see how 1920’s tech can keep out doing 1070’s tech.
Nice to see this done in a naturally aspirated arrow. My wife and I have an Arrow III and interested in some mountain flying (a bit of instruction first!). It’s rare that we are over 7500ft, but have a number of airports in the Sierras I’d like to visit and have always had some hesitation due to the density altitude. I am curious to know how much fuel you had on board… thanks for the video!
Hey brother, I live in Ft.Collins and I was wondering do you ever take passengers on flights around the mountains? This flight looks amazing and I’d be willing to pay for gas, idk how the laws work with actually paying you for a flight if you only have your private license but I’d love to go flying with you!
We can talk about the nuances so we stay legal but happy to take you up. Message me your contact info and let’s talk, but always happy to introduce you to some mountain flying.
