How High Do You Get?

Daleandee said:
So how long will it be before I can put in a call for my experimental kit space plane?
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Already built one. You know how sturdy those 'ole Volvo 240 wagons are. Well, I bought one with a scrunched front end and hacksawed the part in front of the firewall off (Linebacker Jack Reynolds was my childhood idol). Then I hand laid a "squarish" nose cone, calked all the doors and all the windows except for the drivers window, pulled out all but the driver's seat, filled the body with 5200 balloons ('cause I hear there aint no air on the moon), and put a piece of 3/4 inch CDX plywood over the back window.

My plan is to launch from my backyard on some wooden rails I constructed, using the 447 pounds of home made nitro glycerine that I made from a recipe that I found online as a propellant. I've got my Carhart jacket-- they are bulletproof you know-- and my son's old BMX helmet. So I'm ready to go.

Here, hold my beer...
 
Shepherd said:
I took a Tecnam P-92 to over 10,300 feet back in 2014.
The engine quit, flooded, and wouldn't restart.
I made a dead stick landing at 44N. It was just another day in the office.
It turned out to be a defect in the dual carburetor system.
On the plus side I had enough time on the way down to read "War and Peace".
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Was the Hobbs running? If not, how did you know how many hours to log?
 
Oh yeah, I forgot about the flights to Denali in a helicopter.

20,000 feet and three landings.
 
Shepherd said:
I took a Tecnam P-92 to over 10,300 feet back in 2014.
The engine quit, flooded, and wouldn't restart.
I made a dead stick landing at 44N. It was just another day in the office.
It turned out to be a defect in the dual carburetor system.
On the plus side I had enough time on the way down to read "War and Peace".
View attachment 106011
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....so is the moral of this story that if you have an engine out, you should make your emergency landing at a field that also has a diner? :)

It's a solid plan.
 
I would try to keep it at 9000' or less. Unpressurized with no oxygen above that really wears you out after 2-3 hours. That said I have been up to 12.5 a few times for various reasons including staying above the clouds and riding a very strong tailwind.

I got a C150 up to 11,500 once. Winter, cold AF, solo, ferry flight from TX to NC... tailwind just kept increasing as I climbed so I rode it all the way up and was enjoying a 60-70 kt tailwind up there at night. The engine was so anemic the exhaust was barely hot enough to get much in the way of cabin heat.
 
Shepherd said:
I took a Tecnam P-92 to over 10,300 feet back in 2014.
The engine quit, flooded, and wouldn't restart.
I made a dead stick landing at 44N. It was just another day in the office.
It turned out to be a defect in the dual carburetor system.
On the plus side I had enough time on the way down to read "War and Peace".
View attachment 106011
Click to expand...


Whoa, dead stick from over 10,000 to Sky Acres! That’s pretty impressive.. that’s not an easy runway to hit.
 
Terrain is often 7-10k or more, so cruising at 9-12’,000 is an everyday occurrence. If I’m going far enough and the winds are right, I’ll go way up - flown a few legs recently in that 15-16,000’ zone. I like it - don’t mind being on O2 and the extra breathing room above the mountains helps me relax a bit more.
 
jkgoblue said:
Whoa, dead stick from over 10,000 to Sky Acres! That’s pretty impressive.. that’s not an easy runway to hit.
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I spend a lot of time there, so it's not so bad. Especially going into rwy 35.
Rwy 17 would be more of a challange. :)
 
Shepherd said:
I spend a lot of time there, so it's not so bad. Especially going into rwy 35.
Rwy 17 would be more of a challange. :)
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Yeah, high tension power lines on an engine out landing would up the stress levels a little. But while we're still on topic, my question is "did you push the plane up the hill to the diner"? Because if my memory is right, that hill is a little bit steep for pushing...
 
somorris said:
I remember the picture you posted. That was a few years ago.
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About a decade. Now that I cruise in the mid 40’s regularly, 19k feels like being down in the weeds
 
I've been a little over 13k in the 182. FL450 sitting in the left seat though ;)
 
Albany Tom said:
Yeah, high tension power lines on an engine out landing would up the stress levels a little. But while we're still on topic, my question is "did you push the plane up the hill to the diner"? Because if my memory is right, that hill is a little bit steep for pushing...
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I managed to push it about 25 ft up the hill, then quit.
On the plus side, all that fuel drained out of the engine, and 20 minutes later I was able to start it again.
 
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In my 182, 7500 or 8500 is where it seems to be most efficient.

A few of us were flying our Cessna 140s back from Iowa to Texas a few years ago and went to 12,500 for no good reason... it took forever to get there and felt like I was balancing on a bowling ball, but coming down was fun!
 
If you've got turbo it's fun to play in the 15K-17K range, the speed difference is notable. Otherwise I'm usually around the 8K mark. From where I'm located if you plan to travel any meaningful distance (over 75 nm) you're going to start having terrain to manage unless you're going west.. if the plan is to give the peaks 2K clearance you'll find yourself in the 10K range pretty quick. With twins I find, even NA, you can maintain a pretty solid airspeed and climb rate the whole way up
 
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