Flying into Telluride. Tips?

[Fearless Tower]

Had the opportunity to go to Telluride today which has beautiful weather and a 2.5 hour flight from El Paso, but need to finish up some work. Reason for the post is I did check hangar cost and it's $57 for the RV. I don't have a Tanis heater yet and they're getting down to 0* F at night. Hangar is heated to 45-50*. Room rates are now off season so they dropped from even last week's rates (Durango has as well)...

If you have a Tanis or other plug in preheater, they have power outlets at the tie downs you can plug into at TEX.

 

[Shuswap BC]

Correct, with 300hp injected IO-540. No turbo or anything, not sure if any Sixes even came that way but Lances and Saratogas did. Hence the concerns about altitude. I'd looooove to get up to Canada (and Alaska)...baby steps first.



That's way better than $120! They could always move it in the night before I planned to leave once the weather forecast for the morning was sorted out.

Shouldn't be a problem at all.
Cessna 172, and Piper Cherokee 180 went in and out easy with lots and lots of runway left. The rookie pilot I was with in the 180 was unsure, so i landed and took off from the right seat for him. Then once he saw how easy it was I had him do 3 touch and goes. The next day he did the departure with confidence, and it was as non-eventful as any take off could be.
And its an open invitation to come up to my place, let me know ahead of time to be sure that I am home, but be glad to have you. In summer temps soar, so our density altitude is usually way above the actual height of the airstrip. And I am usually going into somewhere with a short strip, and surrounded by mountains that are many thousands of feet higher, just use some common sense and it is fine.

 

[woodchucker]

Wow! beautiful pictures!

As funny as it may sound, I first heard of TEX when I got FSX many years ago. One of the missions has you flying a Lear-45 from roughly the Cones VOR into rwy 9. I loved that short mission so much. Then I found a DVD of a King Air 350 pilot flying from APA to TEX and back. One of my favorite cockpit DVDs! Then in my other flightsims I found out how beautiful Innsbruck Austria is (especially in VR).

So all of this has me wanting to takeoff and land at TEX at least once in my lifetime!!! However, I live in the Northeast and I do not own an airplane. Are there any options (flight school, etc) for me to take a mountain flying course, or just a "discovery flight", if I book a trip there one day? Preferably during fall/winter. Maybe I could plan it for next year 2020, bucket list present to myself. My birthday is in October, so that would probably work out.

Any ideas?

Yeah FSX was my intro to TEX also. Just call any flight schools nearby if nothing exists at the field. Montrose isn’t far away. Try there. When I was planning a flight from Salt Lake to go ski Aspen I consulted POA. Glenwood Springs is the closest but it’s tiny. I opted for Rifle and had my buddies pick me up from there. However, I called a nearby flight school and asked for an instructor to do a mountain flying lesson and then go land at Glenwood Springs before leaving Rifle for home. You can do the same. Easy peasy. Instructors love a breath of fresh air you know? He wouldn’t even accept a tip. Said he had a blast.

 

[redtail]

Yeah FSX was my intro to TEX also. Just call any flight schools nearby if nothing exists at the field. Montrose isn’t far away. Try there. When I was planning a flight from Salt Lake to go ski Aspen I consulted POA. Glenwood Springs is the closest but it’s tiny. I opted for Rifle and had my buddies pick me up from there. However, I called a nearby flight school and asked for an instructor to do a mountain flying lesson and then go land at Glenwood Springs before leaving Rifle for home. You can do the same. Easy peasy. Instructors love a breath of fresh air you know? He wouldn’t even accept a tip. Said he had a blast.

Wow, that sounds like a great idea. I could fly out from NY and stay in Montrose for a few days. I'll start looking into my options. Maybe I'll do it within the first quarter of next year, instead of waiting until my birthday. Thanks for the tip.

 

[danhagan]

If you have a Tanis or other plug in preheater, they have power outlets at the tie downs you can plug into at TEX.

Didn't know that ... thanks! My previous Tiger has a Tanis, but not the RV ... yet. Still have to install the ADSB OUT and I want to change the landing lights to the BAJA LEDs (the current non-LEDs are totally worthless).

 

[WiPilot]

How long does a Tanis take to preheat an engine? I have one of those sump "pad" heaters on there now and it takes forever and a day to do anything worthwhile.

 

[murphey]

How long does a Tanis take to preheat an engine? I have one of those sump "pad" heaters on there now and it takes forever and a day to do anything worthwhile.

Do you have a cover (moving blanket, sleeping bag, or similar?) over the cowl? Heat dissipates really fast without some sort of cover.

 

[Mtns2Skies]

How long does a Tanis take to preheat an engine? I have one of those sump "pad" heaters on there now and it takes forever and a day to do anything worthwhile.

Reiff is based in WI. I have the Turbo XP Reiff system I'm super happy with. It takes about an hour or two to really heat soak the engine with those systems, but I also have an engine and prop blanket from Bruce's.

 

[WiPilot]

Do you have a cover (moving blanket, sleeping bag, or similar?) over the cowl? Heat dissipates really fast without some sort of cover.

Definitely - I have a sweet custom Reiff blanket with spinner and prop covers. The engine is snug as a bug in that thing. But still takes 4 hours MINIMUM, I feel better with 6-8.

 

[murphey]

Definitely - I have a sweet custom Reiff blanket with spinner and prop covers. The engine is snug as a bug in that thing. But still takes 4 hours MINIMUM, I feel better with 6-8.

Same here, but the spinner cover doesn't fit that well....I plan for a minimum of 8 hours. I turn on the heater as I go to bed. Welcome to basic physics and thermodynamics. The engine is a very large and for the most part, a solid piece of metal. That oil pan heater is a tiny bit (what, an inch or so by 3 inches?) trying to warm up this huge chunk of metal.

 

[WiPilot]

Same here, but the spinner cover doesn't fit that well

Why doesn't your spinner cover fit well? Mine doesn't fit well either, but I always just assumed that's because it was made for a 3 blade prop and I have a 2 blade prop so the holes in the cover for the prop blades don't line up. I would guess of all the areas on the engine that the spinner would be losing the least amount of heat anyways.

 

[Shuswap BC]

My glue on oil pan heater makes a noticeable difference in 2 hours, but by hour 4 its toasty warm. Mine is thermostat controlled, so will not over heat if left plugged in for days. When away from home in winter, and it is cold, I plug it in as soon as possible and just leave it alone. I like that it heats from the bottom up since heat rises, and the oil is warm.

 

[danhagan]

Sorry I have to ask, but my home area doesn't get cold like some of the areas you all reside ... do you guys haul cowl blankets with you everywhere in winter? Seems like that'd take up most of the baggage area in the RV7?

 

[murphey]

Sorry I have to ask, but my home area doesn't get cold like some of the areas you all reside ... do you guys haul cowl blankets with you everywhere in winter? Seems like that'd take up most of the baggage area in the RV7?

My cowl cover is much like a down jacket, but it’s polyfiber insulation. When it’s not winter, it’s stuffed into a large garbage bag. I could fold and squash it down much smaller, probably less than half the size, if needed. Fortunately, I have a cherokee with plenty of baggage room as well as the back seat. Another benefit, is that the cover is bright orange, so it works both for emergency blanket as well as signaling.

Hm, might be an interesting project this weekend, to see how small I can squash it and how much space it really takes up.

 

[n2230b]

I’ve flown into telluride VFR X2 with 180 HP 172, from Durango. A couple of hrs with a CFI for mountain technique highly recommended. Familiarize with the approach procedures and fly VFR from Cones VOR with the final approach course from the LOC 9 or VOR 9 procedures. Don’t need an instrument rating for that. Takes all the guesswork out. With initial altitude of 11,500 from Cones it was no prob. If wind is forecast > 20 kts at 12,000-don’t go. The view is akin to SCUBA diving in a canyon with reefs on both sides, just surreal but outstanding. Arrival on 9 and t/o on 27 is recommended in the chart supplement (noise abatement proc).

 

[jsstevens]

My cowl cover is much like a down jacket, but it’s polyfiber insulation. When it’s not winter, it’s stuffed into a large garbage bag. I could fold and squash it down much smaller, probably less than half the size, if needed. Fortunately, I have a cherokee with plenty of baggage room as well as the back seat. Another benefit, is that the cover is bright orange, so it works both for emergency blanket as well as signaling.

Hm, might be an interesting project this weekend, to see how small I can squash it and how much space it really takes up.

Stick it in the garbage bag and then stick the suction end of a sizable shop vac into the bag and suck the air out. It'll get pretty small. But beware, if you pack it away in a small space like that and the bag leaks, it may be a pain to get out.

 

[Kenny Phillips]

Or, go to Wallyworld and get one of the plastic garment storage bags that you hook to a vacuum and really flatten it out (they're amazing). Just a thought.

I got some of those at Harbor Freight for the woman to take a bunch of clothes on a carry on.

 

[murphey]

Or, go to Wallyworld and get one of the plastic garment storage bags that you hook to a vacuum and really flatten it out (they're amazing). Just a thought.

Good idea.....Harbor Freight is close by....wonder how large the bags are. Project for the weekend.