SixPapaCharlie
May the force be with you
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Sixer
In my mad rush to fly everywhere every day, I flew to Colorado this weekend to hike and drink craft brew.
On the way home from Rocky Mountain, I stopped at Leadville to get a certificate for landing there. I have wanted one for awhile.
I met with some members of the Colorado mountain flying club and got some coaching, and we put together a plane that I could execute provided certain weather conditions which turned out perfectly.
Crossed over a couple mountain passes at 12,500 and aside from a little fear that a mountain was going to sneak up and smack me, there were no issues.
It was smooth and we were on Oxygen. Pulse Oximeter was at 84 and below 90, I throw on the mask. 2 breaths and I was up to 97
Flew up the valley where it was flat as glass and the 2 mountain ranges were further apart than I imagined having only seen them on the map.
Interesting note, there are AWOS in the valleys that are not located at airports so you can get weather / wind at different points in the area.
Tuned to CTAF and confirmed people were landing 16. From 15 miles out, I could see the field and thought doing this turn was going to be tough but looking down 2 paralelle ridges, they eem to converge far away.
Once near the airport, there was plenty of room. to fly a normal pattern and not get remotely close to the granite landscape.
Landing was very normal. I didn't feel like my ground speed was all that fast and really it just felt like any other landing. Literally no discernable difference.
Landed, got the certificate and decided to head back to Texas. Now this was when I learned a lot. When you go to this airport, you know you are going to use more runway and you know you are going to climb slow but what I didn't think about is what I am now referring to as the "Slow motion takeoff".
Did a runup and then did the full power and lean for max power.
I let off the breaks and the plane with in a few seconds was well faster than I have ever been on a runway. The urge to rotate was strong. but the airspeed indicator had not yet left the school zone.
Now, here's some real knowledge for you...
My plane gets a little squirrely in that moment where it is close to ready to fly but not really ready. It starts to dance a little for about 3 seconds, then I pull and we be flyin.
Here, you accelerate slower which means that 3 seconds of dancing is now 10 and rotating is now a slower movement.
So the plane is moving hella fast but everything you normally do to make a plane leave the ground is done in slow motion.
The book said I would eat 1800 feet of runway. I looked at the map, and it was closer to double that.
Once the plane lifted off, it sat back down and then lifted off again. I raised the gear to get rid of the drag and climbed out at 100-200 fpm all the way up to 13.5
At full throttle, I was able to get 19 inches of Manifold Pressure and the plane certainly felt less aggressive. I have had it up to 15.5 before and don't recall it feeling like this but perhaps the mountains were making me nervous.
It was a cool experience and given different weather conditions, I wouldn't have done it, The wind was coming straight down the valley rather than over the mountains which made for a fairly smooth ride.
I would not have done this in the Grumman as the airport was pretty much at the service ceiling on this day.
Here is some video of our departure.
On the way home from Rocky Mountain, I stopped at Leadville to get a certificate for landing there. I have wanted one for awhile.
I met with some members of the Colorado mountain flying club and got some coaching, and we put together a plane that I could execute provided certain weather conditions which turned out perfectly.
Crossed over a couple mountain passes at 12,500 and aside from a little fear that a mountain was going to sneak up and smack me, there were no issues.
It was smooth and we were on Oxygen. Pulse Oximeter was at 84 and below 90, I throw on the mask. 2 breaths and I was up to 97
Flew up the valley where it was flat as glass and the 2 mountain ranges were further apart than I imagined having only seen them on the map.
Interesting note, there are AWOS in the valleys that are not located at airports so you can get weather / wind at different points in the area.
Tuned to CTAF and confirmed people were landing 16. From 15 miles out, I could see the field and thought doing this turn was going to be tough but looking down 2 paralelle ridges, they eem to converge far away.
Once near the airport, there was plenty of room. to fly a normal pattern and not get remotely close to the granite landscape.
Landing was very normal. I didn't feel like my ground speed was all that fast and really it just felt like any other landing. Literally no discernable difference.
Landed, got the certificate and decided to head back to Texas. Now this was when I learned a lot. When you go to this airport, you know you are going to use more runway and you know you are going to climb slow but what I didn't think about is what I am now referring to as the "Slow motion takeoff".
Did a runup and then did the full power and lean for max power.
I let off the breaks and the plane with in a few seconds was well faster than I have ever been on a runway. The urge to rotate was strong. but the airspeed indicator had not yet left the school zone.
Now, here's some real knowledge for you...
My plane gets a little squirrely in that moment where it is close to ready to fly but not really ready. It starts to dance a little for about 3 seconds, then I pull and we be flyin.
Here, you accelerate slower which means that 3 seconds of dancing is now 10 and rotating is now a slower movement.
So the plane is moving hella fast but everything you normally do to make a plane leave the ground is done in slow motion.
The book said I would eat 1800 feet of runway. I looked at the map, and it was closer to double that.
Once the plane lifted off, it sat back down and then lifted off again. I raised the gear to get rid of the drag and climbed out at 100-200 fpm all the way up to 13.5
At full throttle, I was able to get 19 inches of Manifold Pressure and the plane certainly felt less aggressive. I have had it up to 15.5 before and don't recall it feeling like this but perhaps the mountains were making me nervous.
It was a cool experience and given different weather conditions, I wouldn't have done it, The wind was coming straight down the valley rather than over the mountains which made for a fairly smooth ride.
I would not have done this in the Grumman as the airport was pretty much at the service ceiling on this day.
Here is some video of our departure.
Last edited:
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Great video otherwise though.