towering tower

eman1200

eman1200

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Bro do you even lift
don't forget to check your "things formerly known as sectionals" for stuff like this............

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well, I guess even the FF/GP versions are still called sectionals, but, you get what I'm saying. and yes, we definitely knew about this one before we took off.
 
Yup those things have a bad habit sometimes of appearing in your windscreen when you least expect it. Fly above the altitude specified in the quad angles on sectionals and you'll miss 'em.
 
Luckily I trained in Central Florida and was dodging them all the time...those little buggers will sneak up on ya if you are not careful!
 
I remember the first tall tower I found. Was during my student pilot days. It scared the crap out of me when I finally saw it, and I was looking for it! I was above its top altitude, but it was friggin huge! Western Massachusetts.
 
Yep those are pretty common 'round here. I'm based in Spartanburg, just down the road. Theres one similar to that one near Pickens County (LQK). I did all of my private training out of Greenville Downtown (GMU) and several instructors mentioned it to me. We used LQK a lot for landing practice and such. Pretty sure theres a couple local here as well...probably not quite as tall as the one you pictured or the one I'm talking about...but they're up there pretty good...


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Near my home drome there's a cluster of towers up to about 2,500' MSL. Whenever I'm on Flight Following, ATC asks me to confirm I am familiar with the towers.
 
Well, what I'm tryin to say is.... Don't rely on anyone to tell u about towers and do proper planning. U just never know.
 
We've got some towers that are about 2000' AGL around here. I often fly lower than the tops of the towers but I know where they're all at.

I always like to bring them up when working with instrument students. The OROCA in that area is super high for a part of the country that has airport elevations of 800-1000 msl. The towers have also caused one of the airports to have published ODPs which is also good to discuss and talk about why they exist.
 
Yikes, that looks like our tallest antenna around here. I believe ours is around 2,500 AGL. It is a GREAT landmark, can see it for miles.
Wouldn't want to see it up close in bad haze like that.
 
BigBadLou said:
Yikes, that looks like our tallest antenna around here. I believe ours is around 2,500 AGL. It is a GREAT landmark, can see it for miles.
Wouldn't want to see it up close in bad haze like that.
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Max allowed height in the U.S. is 2,000' AGL and there are 20 scattered around that are that tall. There is a gaggle more over 1,900'. There are also three in the US that got exemptions and are taller than 2,000'. One's in CA, the other two in ND. All three are less than 2,100 though so they're not that much taller.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_structures_in_the_United_States
 
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Sectionals are great and all but nothing beats synthetic vision for this kind of obstacle avoidance.
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5 NE of Mt Pleasant, SC there are two 2,00 ft towers that are not painted but have strobes. They are nearly impossible to see against the ocean background and are in a position to catch the unsuspecting on their way to LRO.
 
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See this one right here? The red line is a typical VFR route one might take (or be given on FF) travelling from Santa Cruz inland. Particularly in that direction, that tower is invisible in the daylight until you're right next to it, since it blends in perfectly with the mountains. It almost took me out once. After that, I've given very wide berth to it.
 
In the Cleveland Bravo I was vectored into these enormous towers, well over a thousand feet, maybe two. First 9and last) time I ever told a controller "unable".
 
I never see them.... They are very hard to see from 14k feet.
 
My favorite is this one (of a pair), on final to runway 35 at Grandfield, OK (1O1). It's only 1073 AGL, but at just 0.5 nm right of centerline on a 2nm final, it'll get your attention!

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There's a whole gaggle of 'em out east of Springfield, MO. Three (3) of them 2,000 footers. A few planes have tangled with them (and lost) over the years.

Oh, and there's a few of lesser stature IN THE PATTERN at 3DW. It's always interesting when you have a passenger that's never been in there before.

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BigBadLou said:
Yikes, that looks like our tallest antenna around here. I believe ours is around 2,500 AGL. It is a GREAT landmark, can see it for miles.
Wouldn't want to see it up close in bad haze like that.
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The one near Burnet?! We all know that one! It's 1962 AGL, 3097 MSL. Then theres one NE of Temple that is 1924 AGL. It's funny how I'm flying higher then them, but looking down at them gives me the chills thinking about being the one to change the light bulbs out!
 
The one I remember most was not as high as some of these, but it loomed near in the SoCal smog while I was learning to fly. The transmitter tower of radio station KFI was less than two miles from the departure end of runway 24 at Fullerton CA (KFUL), topping out at 823' MSL. Problem was, in those days the traffic pattern (right traffic for 24) was at 800' MSL. The tower was right where a grossed-out C-150 might be expected to turn from crosswind to downwind on a hot, smoggy day. The 1960s-style photochemical smog made inflight visibility toward the west into a late-afternoon sun an exercise in guesswork, faith and local knowledge, even when the tower optimistically called visibility at three miles. The tower did not have strobes, just red incandescent flashers that were difficult to see even at night.

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Later the airport traffic pattern was raised to 1,000' MSL. Still an inbound transient C-182 collided with the tower in 2004. It was rebuilt, a little lower (747' MSL), and with strobes.
 
Sac Arrow said:
View attachment 45931
See this one right here? The red line is a typical VFR route one might take (or be given on FF) travelling from Santa Cruz inland. Particularly in that direction, that tower is invisible in the daylight until you're right next to it, since it blends in perfectly with the mountains. It almost took me out once. After that, I've given very wide berth to it.
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I want to see a 2000 ft tower dammit. Maybe when I take the gf to KMRY..
 
ircphoenix said:
I want to see a 2000 ft tower dammit. Maybe when I take the gf to KMRY..
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Trust me...you'll be flying along comfortably at 500' above it, see it and you'll still have a irresistible urge to climb. The next thing you know, you'll look down at your altimeter to see that you're 1000 feet above it and you'll feel like you're still too close.

The illusion is pretty weird.
 
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timwinters said:
Trust me...you'll be flying along comfortably at 500' above it, see it and you'll still have a irresistible urge to climb. The next thing you know, you'll look down at your altimeter to see that you're 1000 feet above it and you'll feel like you're still too close.

The illusion is pretty weird.
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I agree. What's up with that illusion?
I can be at 3,200' with the antenna topping at 3,097' but I feel it is above my wing tip when I am passing it with a 1/2 mile buffer. It even looks like it breaks upward through the horizon. Why is that?
 
ircphoenix said:
I want to see a 2000 ft tower dammit. Maybe when I take the gf to KMRY..
Click to expand...

BigBadLou said:
I agree. What's up with that illusion?
I can be at 3,200' with the antenna topping at 3,097' but I feel it is above my wing tip when I am passing it with a 1/2 mile buffer. It even looks like it breaks upward through the horizon. Why is that?
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It's actually a 1,500 foot tower AGL, but it's 4,000 MSL. Climbing out of MRY, you will not be comfortably above it, and ATC (should you go with flight following) will likely give you a max elevation below that. It's within a Class C outer area.
 
timwinters said:
Trust me...you'll be flying along comfortably at 500' above it, see it and you'll still have a irresistible urge to climb. The next thing you know, you'll look down at your altimeter to see that you're 1000 feet above it and you'll feel like you're still too close.

The illusion is pretty weird.
Click to expand...

Yup, there's a field of them in northern OKC, and a few barely under 2K' AGL in eastern Tulsa that definitely get your attention. It is an eerie feeling when you know you're above them and a mile or two away and they appear to be just under the wing.


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