Sport Pilot Talk

WurlyBird · Joined: 13 May 2008 Posts: 10 Location: Afghanistan

Just trying to post a thread that will get some active and relaxing posting going. Since I am in Afghanistan right now every day is an adventure flying. This is some of the most unforgiving terrain you can imagine. The other day we were flying down a valley at about 200' agl and I realized that we didn't pass a single, reasonable, forced landing area for about 5 minutes. 45 degree walls going straight into a river. A few weeks ago we were on the floor of a valley about 200 meters wide where we had to keep doing U-turns and yet stay low, again with 45 degree walls on either side. It came down to doing a chandelle or wingover type maneuver in a 5000 lb helicopter and recovering at about 20' agl. All this and at 8-10,000' DA. So what are YOUR mountain flying stories? I want to hear about it.

CTflyer · Posted: Mon May 19, 2008 2:24 pm Post subject:

Wurly - 5000lb 'copter - what are you flying?

10K density altitude, no suitable landing spots ... not exactly student pilot territory!

A couple days ago was the 65th anniversary of the RAF Dambuster raid. Lancaster bombers flying 60' agl. Now there's some low-level flying:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7404515.stm

Tom

DKarnage · Joined: 01 Feb 2008 Posts: 57 Location: Baltimore W48

CTflyer wrote: Wurly - 5000lb 'copter - what are you flying?

Looks like OH-58's in the background of his avatar...they have a gross of about 5500 lbs

WurlyBird · Joined: 13 May 2008 Posts: 10 Location: Afghanistan

Yeah, by no means student territory. I am pretty new to the game at just over 500 rotorwing hours but they keep us "young" guys in check by pairing us with the guys with a few deployments (and 2000+ hrs) under their belts. I am flying an OH58-D Kiowa Warrior. At 5200 lbs it is the SMALLEST aircraft in the Army's inventory. Greatest mission though, reconnaissance! We sneak around the battle field and figure out what is really going on. And being Armed reconnaissance makes it that much more fun!

rsteele · Joined: 12 Feb 2007 Posts: 259

I would think the wind would come whipping down those valleys also.

Sorry, no personal mountain flying here. Last "mountains" I flew over were the Blue Ridge in Virginia. Beautiful, but you could clear them by 8000 feet in a 172..

Question: Is there any type GA/civil of aviation over there? Doesn't seem likely, but it would be interesting to think about if it's there.

Ron

CharlieTango · Posted: Mon May 19, 2008 3:35 pm Post subject:

here's a photo of my home field

10,000' da and no landing options for up to 1 hour are normal for me.

i fly with a personal locater beacon, a ballistic chute, an aircraft with good climb performance, survival gear and synthetic vision.

a short field, highly maneuverable aircraft, and the skills to do at least a canyon exit maneuver ( wing over ) are helpful.

CTflyer · Posted: Mon May 19, 2008 5:12 pm Post subject:

CT - what a fantastic field! Man - you could charge folks just for taking them up and showing them the sights. Or at last have them buy you a steak. What a great picture!

And quite an impressive panel by the way.

Fly safe.
Tom

CharlieTango · Posted: Mon May 19, 2008 5:26 pm Post subject:

CTflyer wrote: ...you could charge folks just for taking them up and showing them the sights. ...
Tom

ya think?

10 miles west of our field kmmh in the summer

the view from right downwind for 27

CTflyer · Posted: Mon May 19, 2008 5:35 pm Post subject:

STOP IT!

Keep this up and I'll end up buying something I can't afford! (again ...). Good grief that is incredible!

(Really excellent CT - thank you sir.)

Tom

CharlieTango · Posted: Mon May 19, 2008 5:59 pm Post subject:

CTflyer wrote: STOP IT!
...

ok, last time

CTflyer · Posted: Mon May 19, 2008 6:08 pm Post subject:

Wurly - how 'bout some pics from your neck of the woods? (before I attempt "liberation" of a plane out in Mammoth Lakes ...)

Tom

SkySteve · Posted: Mon May 19, 2008 10:31 pm Post subject:

OK, Charlie Tango. Now you've gone and done it. You've started the 2008 mountain flying season photo contest!!!

Local frozen lake and mountains: 9,570'MSL

More of the local mountain flying: 2008

Local flying thru a mountain pass

My home strip: 750' long, 5,029'MLS

The town's airport: Landing 34 with mountains in the background

WurlyBird · Joined: 13 May 2008 Posts: 10 Location: Afghanistan

I will have to read up on how to post pictures, I have seen it on here somewhere. No time right now but maybe when I get home tonight. I have some pretty impressive pictures though none are quite as beautiful as Mamoth Lakes. Flying here is a great challenge and has made me very proficient at power management. We generally fly on the edge of the envelope where a little more power will torch an engine, a little less airspeed will turn us to a home sick brick, a little less altitude will have us pulling leaves out of the tail rotor, and the drafts, well lets say you better have a good idea where the winds are and the ability to visualize what they are doing in the terrain. It is not uncommon to go from a 1000 fpm climb to a 1000+ fpm descent in a few seconds at the same airspeed and power setting. It is no surprise we are predicted to lose more blade time to incidents involving terrain then to enemy fire. :shock:

CTflyer · Posted: Tue May 20, 2008 5:33 am Post subject:

wurly - quick and easy picture post technique:

Put your pics (jpg or gif) on a photo hosting website (like flickr, snapfish, etc.).

Get the full url of a picture (not of a page - of a picture).

In your post here at SPT, type:

[img]www.mypicturehost.com/mybird.jpg[/img]

(Or, you can click the "Img" button above the text window.)

Voila! the jpeg you have (mybird.jpg) hosted at www.mypicturehost.com (not a real host ...) now shows up here.

Easy as mountain flying!

Tom

tadel001 · Joined: 12 Mar 2007 Posts: 251

CTflyer...I have pictures but I am not sure I follow your directions. Can this work with using google's picasa?[/img]