How High Do You Get?

Daleandee

Daleandee

Final Approach
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Mar 4, 2020
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Dale Andee
As a Light Sport Certificate holder I'm limited to how high I can fly. I know pilots that are actually a bit uncomfortable at higher altitudes.

There are a few pilots on the board that fly planes that cruise pretty high. Just curious as to how high most pilots fly.

For me a local area flight will be 2500' or so. Over flat land on a cross country will find me at 35-6500' depending on direction. Over mountains I like to be 2K above the peaks.

Now these guys in this short video were up pretty high (pilot also explains what "coffin corner" is in the vid):

 
Hey, I know how high a Cessna 172F will fly! But in the real world, I never flew over 9K during trips, and usually lower, takes too long to get there.
 
I will fly as high or as low as terrain and winds dictate. I'm usually travelling somewhere, so flying east I can be as high as 11.5k without supp. oxygen and when the headwinds get worse as you climb I'm usually comfortable around 1.5k-2k agl at the lowest. I've done actual physio hypoxia training so I'm comfortable getting as high as allowed with just a bottle of hiker's oxygen as a backup.

I just use the altitude that gets me to the destination fastest...
 
I fly a C150, so I don't generally climb any more than I have to, it takes too long. Local sightseeing, under 1000' agl, short (less than an hour) XC, generally 3500-4500, or enough to get above the bumps. Longer flights, depends on the winds aloft, but 7500-8500 is nice if the wind cooperates. I've gotten up to 12500 once just to see if it would get there, and it did, but ROC was about nothing by then.
 
I cross water or hostile terrain I get as much altitude as I can. Highest I've got in my airplane was 12.5. Got there in my old Cherokee, but it sure took a long time.
 
Got up to 11,000 last week in the Turbo Stationair.
 
Always above 2500’ to avoid the transmission towers. Never above 8500’ as it takes too long. Usually 4-5500’
 
16000’ in my NA Mooney, I like flying high, but oxygen cannula is not really comfortable.
 
Typically in the FL300s range but could be in the twenties for short flights or all the way up to FL410 if the winds/temp/weight favor it. The Mustang doesn't have enough power to reliably climb straight to FL410 though in a lot of cases (temp and weight dependent).
 
I get uncomfortable below about 2000 AGL. My plane is happiest (most efficient/fastest) around 8000, so all things being equal that's what I'll pick, but I'll usually pick the most favorable winds between 4-12k assuming there's no obstructions/terrain/water crossing. I don't currently have oxygen, so that limits me. I've had my plane up to 13000 to top a small storm, and near max gross the climb was down to just 100'/min or so.
 
High enough that the air gaps under the paint gave the plane a case of bumps. Wasn't too long before a complete strip and repaint.20150722_151959.jpg
 
I had my 150 hp Warrior up over 17,500 once. It was great fun, I was in Colorado and mostly used ridge soaring techniques to get up there. Saw 1000 fpm climb at times. Really wanted to get up to FL180 but it ran out of lift (and a Warrior certainly isn't climbing on its own up that high).
 
It depends on several things, the winds aloft, how far I am going, terrain. Local hamburger flights around 3000, more than 100 miles usually 5000 to 7500. We have a lot of mountains around here to the north and west so been as high as 11,000 to get over those.
 
Depends on what I’m flying and what I’m doing.

500-1000ish AGL in the helicopter and Cubs is pretty normal. 15-20,000ish in the Malibu is also pretty normal.
 
GA airplane flying, sweet spot for my planes (TAS) XC is around 7,500. Been to 12-13K on occasion to top weather.

Hit 13-14K a few times flying helicopters in Afghanistan. No O2 either.
 
In the 150 I considered a realistic cruise altitude to be around 5-7k unless I needed higher for obstacles. Just took too much more time to get any higher. In the Venture 18k is no problem at all, I can still get 800 fpm at that altitude but I typically plan low teens unless I need to stretch the range.
 
I was flying from Las Vegas, NV back to Gallup, NM one night at FL220. VMC conditions but as dark as the inside of a cow over the Grand Canyon, no lights on the ground or in the sky. I was really hoping to not have an instrument failure it was so dark.

Was up to FL250 several times in the 425.

Normal flight altitude in Alaska was about 2000-3000 agl, but I have flown between just high enough to miss Caribou antlers to 12,500 msl in the 207.
 
My last cros country in the Archer was 300 miles, central Texas in August. Went to 6500 and still kicking myself that I didn't go to 8500. 6500 was just above the haze and OAT 75. I bet 8500 was in the mid 60s and would have been real nice for an August afternoon.
 
In my plane as high as I can get.

upload_2022-4-8_16-24-40.jpeg

Added ADS-B last year so if I can find the right weather conditions I will try for higher. Although I have waviers for going higher in some locations even without the ADS-B.

Brian
LS6b N1720
 
My plane prefers 8 to 9k. Out west I'm doing 11 or 12k. Plane tops out somewhere between 14 and 15k. I don't have a supplemental oxygen setup so have never gone above 12.5.
 
I worked with some A10 pilots a few years ago who joked they were afraid to fly above 1000 feet AGL ;)
 
I prefer 6-9k. I mostly go for smooth air. Highest GA flight was at 15.5 on O2 in a turbo SR22.. that was pretty fun.
 
600-800 AGL in my Maule, typically.

piston airplanes carrying passengers, high enough to hopefully find smooth air and/or avoid ice.

jets, mid-30s to FL410 usually.
 
Highest in my hang glider is 12k over west Texas. In my Cherokee, 11.5K. I like high, but I afraid of heights.
 
The highest I've been was 17,500 in my Turbo Arrow. Sure, I could have gone higher, but why? I'm already on O2, sh** is freezing up and the mags are arcing like crazy, I just did it because I wanted to do it but not enough to file IFR to get marginally higher.

In practicality, in my Turbo Arrow, I couldn't run LOP above about 12K so why do so because the fuel penalty is huge. 10-11K was the sweet spot in the Turbo Arrow. Travel and efficiency wise.

The Arrow II? Mmm, its sweet spot was around 7500 but it could get up to 12K. 95% of my flights were at 3,000 MSL and it kicked ass for that.
 
Highest I've been in my Cherokee was 12.5 and it took forever to get there.
 
I once flew a C-150 to 13.000 feet and descended by entering a spin.

33 turns later, I was still at somewhere around 5,500 feet...

I took a photo of the panel, showing the extreme nose high attitude and the mixture one notch from idle cutoff.
 
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I usually have headwinds wherever I want to go, that get stronger as I get higher, so I normally am just a bit under 3000' AGL, which can be anything from 3200 to maybe 4500 MSL.
 
I don't really know, I admit that I point the airplane's nose skyward...

But, I don't inhale.
 
IK04 said:
I once flew a C-150 to 13.000 feet and descended by entering a spin.

33 turns later, I was thill at somewhere around 5,500 feet...
Click to expand...

Did approximately the same in my T-Craft, I forget the exact numbers. Another time on a big puffy cloud day I was climbing so good I took it up to around 8000' and shut off the engine... and gained another 1000' before losing the lift.

But normally nowadays, I rarely go much over 1000 AGL on a local flight except for aerobatics. Cross country, usually no higher than 2000 AGL.
 
I took a 172 to FL190 once, a long time ago…
 
14000MSL for 29 minutes is the highest, but most of the time it's whatever gives me MCP (typically 75%) whenever it's a long enough leg and I'm behind a NA engine.
 
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".
IMG_2670.JPG
 
Today I was thinking about the old movie "Salvage" where Andy Griffith builds a space ship to go and get junk from the moon. It's on the tube for free.

Other references (vids and articles) are suggesting that personal space craft may not be too far into the future as some are making it to "space" (different definitions available of where that begins) now with balloons. https://science.howstuffworks.com/transport/flight/modern/hot-air-balloon.htm

So how long will it be before I can put in a call for my experimental kit space plane? 20 years or 50? They need to hurry as I'm running outta days ...
 
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