Just got my pilot's license a few weeks ago, and have been enjoying flying around with it. One thing I want to do soon is get training for how to deal with flying near and around and into mountainous regions. I understand there's some specific and special techniques related to it, and my flying club requires it before I can land at a place over 3500 MSL.
Until I get that training, I've been trying to stay away from mountains. But I had an interesting challenge posed to me yesterday when I took a friend on a tour of the area, and he wanted to fly around Big Sur and Pinnacles National Monument. I realized that I didn't have a good sense of when flying became "mountain flying," and thus dangerous without more knowledge/training. Basically, when I was moving from my "known unknowns" to "unknown unknowns."
Let me put it this way. I've flown over many 3000 foot "mountains" in the area throughout training, since the SF bay area is surrounded by such things. I've heard of no indication that this is "mountain flying." But what about 5000 MSL mountains? 6000 MSL? If the peaks are 2000 feet below me and miles to the side, do I need to worry much about it?
For the time being, I'm staying well away and above mountain ranges that cover a large area. At least until I figure out if I'm missing any information that might put me in danger. When I flew through around those areas this weekend, I made sure I always had a flat place in sight/range that looked good for an emergency landing, if necessary. I stuck to the valleys and basically avoided flying into the mountainous regions at all. Just to the side of them so that we could get a nice view.
EDIT: Obviously, I was also staying clear of the national park restrictions in the area.
Until I get that training, I've been trying to stay away from mountains. But I had an interesting challenge posed to me yesterday when I took a friend on a tour of the area, and he wanted to fly around Big Sur and Pinnacles National Monument. I realized that I didn't have a good sense of when flying became "mountain flying," and thus dangerous without more knowledge/training. Basically, when I was moving from my "known unknowns" to "unknown unknowns."
Let me put it this way. I've flown over many 3000 foot "mountains" in the area throughout training, since the SF bay area is surrounded by such things. I've heard of no indication that this is "mountain flying." But what about 5000 MSL mountains? 6000 MSL? If the peaks are 2000 feet below me and miles to the side, do I need to worry much about it?
For the time being, I'm staying well away and above mountain ranges that cover a large area. At least until I figure out if I'm missing any information that might put me in danger. When I flew through around those areas this weekend, I made sure I always had a flat place in sight/range that looked good for an emergency landing, if necessary. I stuck to the valleys and basically avoided flying into the mountainous regions at all. Just to the side of them so that we could get a nice view.
EDIT: Obviously, I was also staying clear of the national park restrictions in the area.
