Flying Colorado Springs in August?

[kenjr]

...just curious as I know there are quite a few CO flyers on the board.

I'm thinking about flying up sometime in August from KGTU (Austin, TX area). I was looking at some weather stuff and August seems to be the wettest month of the year. Not that much rain - 3" or so average...but curious if it's a sketchy VFR time to fly.

My sister-in-law is an attorney and her firm has a cabin about an hour west of town that we're thinking about joining them for a week or so. We can drive it - but Foreflight tells me it's about 4.5 hours to fly vs at least 12 to drive so I'd like to go that route if possible.

Elevation and mountains for my path don't seem to be an issue. I fly a Cherokee 235 and we won't be anywhere near gross so getting high and dealing with density altitude shouldn't be a problem...either coming or going.

Anyway, thanks in advance - topic came up tonight and I started doing a little research but thought I'd ping the CO folks to see what was up.

Have a great weekend!

 

[Clark1961]

Plan to arrive by 1 pm or so to beat the afternoon thunderstorms and you should be fine at KCOS in August. Plan to leave fairly early in the day on the return trip to minimize density altitude effects and lean for max power prior to departure. KCOS is fairly GA freindly - just stay away from the Peterson AFB ramp on the north side of the field and the airline stuff in the middle. GA is on the west side of the field and the controllers will generally keep you on the west runway. They will let you use the long one if you ask to but you really don't want to since it is such a long taxi to or from.

Lots of local knowledge available here on the board to help with other questions/airspace concerns you may have so ask away. Flying to and from Texas has been a fairly frequent trip for me.

 

[midlifeflyer]

Clark is correct. There really isn't a sketchy VFR time to fly in Colorado. Biggest weather issues are going to be afternoon thunderstorms and that the prevailing westerly winds can be strong. While the thunderstorms themselves may not develop until well into the afternoon, rising hot air mixed with the westerlies coming over the mountains can make for a bumpy ride. The earlier the better leaving Austin.

 

[MAKG1]

Having flown around there in summer, lean at run-up, never use full rich, know Vy at the current DA (it will be less than you are used to), and don't get freaked out by poor climb performance.

Expect to need thousands of feet of runway for takeoff. Fortunately, all the runways at KCOS are quite long. Identify an abort point, say the 3000-feet-remaining marker to be at 50 feet, or land/abort straight ahead.

Weather can get "fun" in the afternoon, mainly for turbulence.

Last time I was there, KCOS was IFR in good weather due to a massive upwind wildfire.

Check the vis satellite for evidence of large scale mountain waves.

And Cutter is a real nice FBO. There is also an airplane reastaurant down the street I haven't tried, but a Texan may be more interested in the Rudy's in Manitou Springs....

 

[SportPilotCO]

You may want to look at Meadow Lake KFLY vice KCOS. It is just to the northeast. Just a little less to deal with in terms of taxi time. It isn't a huge issue though. Colorado Springs is a pretty slow Class C.

Carl

 

[kenjr]

...thanks. I don't mind 'busy'. I fly out of a pretty busy Class D and am in and out of the Austin Class C all the time.

There would definitely be a stop involved - the flight in my plane is ~4.5 hours...I could probably make it but my wife and kid can't. So, we'll probably stop somewhere around Amarillo and then make a go at it from there.

Good point on the afternoon rain - I'll definitely make sure we leave Austin at or before sunrise to arrive before noon.

 

[Clark1961]

...thanks. I don't mind 'busy'. I fly out of a pretty busy Class D and am in and out of the Austin Class C all the time.

There would definitely be a stop involved - the flight in my plane is ~4.5 hours...I could probably make it but my wife and kid can't. So, we'll probably stop somewhere around Amarillo and then make a go at it from there.

Good point on the afternoon rain - I'll definitely make sure we leave Austin at or before sunrise to arrive before noon.

Good plan - BGD is a decent stop, quick turn, clean facilities for the wife, courtesy car if you need it. DUX has cheaper gas (self-serve) and acceptable facilities - clean? not-so-much, never have seen a crew car.

I dunno but COS is about as slow as you can get and be a Charlie. APA has more traffic. GA is easy though, land on west side, park on west side - Cutter will lay out the red carpet (literally). I've never used the other place - heard it's expensive but don't know.

Lot's of Air Force training in the area - PUB has Doss w/lots of DA-20s doing pre-UPT work and the Academy has cadets buzzing around in SR-20s and gliders and sometimes meat-bombs falling from the sky. Ft. Carson has restricted airspace south of COS with drones and helicopters. It can be busy around COS just COS itself is pretty sleepy.

 

[SCCutler]

Springs is a great airport, and a 235 will have no issues at all. Go, have fun.

Definitely leave early!