Safety is #1. Discusses the many airports, density altitude, mountain passes, emergencies, weather, taking photos, etc. The practical is 3-5 hours depending on the airplane. One of the routes is KAPA, over BJC, Corona Pass, KGNB, KSBS, hang a left down to the valley near Vail, Glenwood Springs, backtrack to fly near Aspen, (optional) then backtrack again to Leadville KLXV and get your certificate, down the valley, then hang another left, fly over South Park (yes, it really does exist!) perhaps fly "behind" Pikes Peak and Cheyenne Mtn back to KAPA.
This is not a back country, dirt strip course. For that, head to Idaho.
The class will run again in late August. Also counts as a BFR, if you'd like.
Notes: Route varies by horsepower -- there's essentially two main commonly used routes but CPA doesn't mandate a particular route and ground course students are able to meet and greet with instructors who've volunteered to work with CPA.
The flight is done outside the legal auspices of CPA technically (last I checked) and is an agreement between pilot and instructor as an independent thing.
That said, CPA does vet the instructors they recommend.
Also the Flight Review is optional, kinda like anything else you choose to do with a CFI. If you want it to count as an FR, communicate that up front so the CFI does all the correct things.
And... last but not least, the ground portion counts for a nice chunk of Wings credits and the flight portion is whatever Wings stuff you work out with the instructor.
Minimum 180hp and no cruise prop...
I'd think you'd learn a lot more in a J3 or 150, if you are wind aware and manage energy.
I'm not sure what you are trying to say here.
The GA portion of mountain flying will never affect me personally, but I've always been intrigued about what it consists of.
As I said, I've done extensive flying in the mountains of Colorado, but when you are flying a jet it bends the laws of physics a bit.
He's saying the CPA folks have a limit on aircraft to be used. They had to draw the line somewhere but if someone owned something wimpish, they could talk to the older CFIs and probably find one willing to fly it with them in calm air on the "low" route.
Like
@James331 says, it'd be a much tougher lesson and might entail not making it to where you want to go in summertime temps. Probably best saved for early fall.
James, there's some other reasons they want the 180 HP minimum but there's also some rather eye popping stories of some high HP aircraft and owners who have, shall we say, had such weak stick and rudder skills that certain airports were skipped for safety along the route.
Remember the crowd that shows up can have a wildly varying skill set and if they're owners, a wildly varying equipment list, and the organizers and whoever has put on the Chief Instructor hat for Instructor briefings is attempting to juggle the lowest time and least current pilots into pairing off work the highest time (and most likely to survive them) instructors, as well as set some hard rules for even the instructors not to push students who aren't doing so well on airspeed control and aircraft handling into tough situations.
They want everyone to grow and learn something from it, and folks who need more help usually get the grizzled vets and folks who are going to do okay get the newer instructors, etc. Every one of the events is a new group and has different needs. There's even been some type clubs who have done private versions of the course for members and those can also be wildly varied in skillset and knowledge level.
It's pretty easy to tailor the routes to a particular airplane and student though. It's done every session.
Example: In my case, I was a local with some good mountain experience but wanted to do the full course, get the certificate, yadda yadda. I was paired with a grizzled vet who also had lost his medical. That way I could be PIC and still go learn some stuff from him without putting anyone completely unfamiliar in the mountains with a possible medical emergency in the absolute worst case scenario. I knew how to get myself out and also to an airport.
We had a good time. He showed me where to fly through the treeline at LXV if I ever had a student and an airplane that refused to climb, even if the book said it would.
He also showed me some tricks as to how to get out of Aspen and over the ridge to the Reudi Reservoir area on a no-lift very hot day in the 182. We came within 2 degrees F of the hard no-go limit at LXV. It was hot that day for up there.
70F if I remember right, is the limit there as I recall. Try finding a 70F DA at LXV on your typical 70s Cessna or Piper performance chart. That takeoff roll was loooooong even on only half tanks and the two of us on board. Fun day. Coaxing a Skylane aloft in those conditions is well worth seeing once, if you've already seen bad performance from high DA before. That day took that to another level.
