Mountain Flying Training Recommendations

flyingtexas

flyingtexas

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flyingtexas
i plan to get trained in mountain flying this summer. if anyone knows of or has a recommendation for a good school to contact in colorado i would be much obliged.
 
i plan to get trained in mountain flying this summer. if anyone knows of or has a recommendation for a good school to contact in colorado i would be much obliged.
 
flyingtexas said:
i plan to get trained in mountain flying this summer. if anyone knows of or has a recommendation for a good school to contact in colorado i would be much obliged.
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Colorado Pilots Association runs 3 classes this summer, a full day of ground then a day flying. Check out the website at

coloradopilots.org

Mountain Flying Ground School | Colorado Pilots Association

Learn to fly safely in the Colorado Rockies. CPAs mountain flying ground school covers density altitude, weather, route planning, and mountain pass navigation.
coloradopilots.org coloradopilots.org

There's also a list of highly recommended mountain instructors.

coloradopilots.org

Instructors - Colorado Pilots Association

coloradopilots.org coloradopilots.org

These people have been teaching mountain flying for decades. I personally know Jer, Erik, Bart, John, Tim, Paul, Nelson, and flown with most of them. In fact John is my "unofficial partner" in my cherokee.

I'm betting that most of the Colorado people here have flown with at least one (or more!) of the people on the list.

[snide editorial comment follows]

These are not the newbie CFIs who got a couple hours of mountain instruction and now advertise "mountain flying instruction"

[snide editorial comment off]
 
The guy I took my orientation out of Boulder no longer flies, so I can give advice, but not a referral.

1) Go with someone who has spent a ton of time in the mountains. The ideas presented aren't horribly complicated, but if you're going to spend them money, may as well spend it with someone who has lived it and can tell stories from personal experiences. Not a time builder looking to move to the airlines.

2) Read books. Sparky, "Mountain Flying Bible", is my favorite. It can also be useful to read hands on guides like Fly Idaho or Fly Utah by Galen Hanselman. And biographies, like Pioneer Bush Pilots, are super useful for hearing stories about how things can go wrong.

3) Note how many of the authors of various mountain books ended up dead while flying in the mountains. The ones who didn't make it were still recognized experts. Sometimes the odds caught up. Sometimes they made bad decisions after getting overly confident. Make note of both.

4) Stay sharp. I have a friend who did some specialized training and showed up in the mountains flying his plane like he was one with it. We did another trip a couple years later and it was clear he could have used a brush-up before heading back out.

5) Push boundaries slowly. I have another friend with whom I did a trip with just a couple weeks ago and he managed to damage his plane two flights in a row by getting too far ahead of his skills. I'm no expert, but at this point probably 2/3rds of my 1500 hours are off airport of varying challenge levels. Despite (or maybe because of) having vastly more experience than him, I was sitting on the ground waiting for the weather to improve when he did the first one. He'll be fine after the bruise on the ego heals and the checkbook gets rebalanced. But neither injuries were necessary.

That's what I can think of for now.
 
Colorado Pilots Association runs 3 classes this summer, a full day of ground then a day flying. Check out the website at

coloradopilots.org

Mountain Flying Ground School | Colorado Pilots Association

Learn to fly safely in the Colorado Rockies. CPAs mountain flying ground school covers density altitude, weather, route planning, and mountain pass navigation.
coloradopilots.org coloradopilots.org

There's also a list of CPA-highly recommended mountain instructors.

coloradopilots.org

Instructors - Colorado Pilots Association

coloradopilots.org coloradopilots.org

These people have been teaching mountain flying for decades. Many are associated with a school, others are independent. I personally know Jer, Erik, Bart, John, Tim, Paul, Nelson, and flown with most of them. In fact John is my "unofficial partner" in my cherokee.

I'm betting that most of the Colorado people here have flown with at least one (or more!) of the people on the list.

[snide editorial comment follows]

These are not the newbie CFIs who got a couple hours of mountain instruction and now advertise "mountain flying instruction"

[snide editorial comment off]
 
rwellner98 said:
^^ this ^^

You got the same advice in two parallel posts. :-)
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that's because one of the posts got deleted, I think. So I moved it to Training, because that's where it really belongs. I dunno.
 
rwellner98 said:
The guy I took my orientation out of Boulder no longer flies, so I can give advice, but not a referral.

1) Go with someone who has spent a ton of time in the mountains. The ideas presented aren't horribly complicated, but if you're going to spend them money, may as well spend it with someone who has lived it and can tell stories from personal experiences. Not a time builder looking to move to the airlines.

2) Read books. Sparky, "Mountain Flying Bible", is my favorite. It can also be useful to read hands on guides like Fly Idaho or Fly Utah by Galen Hanselman. And biographies, like Pioneer Bush Pilots, are super useful for hearing stories about how things can go wrong.

3) Note how many of the authors of various mountain books ended up dead while flying in the mountains. The ones who didn't make it were still recognized experts. Sometimes the odds caught up. Sometimes they made bad decisions after getting overly confident. Make note of both.

4) Stay sharp. I have a friend who did some specialized training and showed up in the mountains flying his plane like he was one with it. We did another trip a couple years later and it was clear he could have used a brush-up before heading back out.

5) Push boundaries slowly. I have another friend with whom I did a trip with just a couple weeks ago and he managed to damage his plane two flights in a row by getting too far ahead of his skills. I'm no expert, but at this point probably 2/3rds of my 1500 hours are off airport of varying challenge levels. Despite (or maybe because of) having vastly more experience than him, I was sitting on the ground waiting for the weather to improve when he did the first one. He'll be fine after the bruise on the ego heals and the checkbook gets rebalanced. But neither injuries were necessary.

That's what I can think of for now.
Click to expand...

It's not always the best idea to follow the magenta line, either.
 
There should be a course in Santa Fe, NM, in case CO does not work out. When I took it, we had experienced instructors and flew up to Angel Fire, which is at 8,400 ft in a mountain valley.
 
MountainDude said:
There should be a course in Santa Fe, NM, in case CO does not work out. When I took it, we had experienced instructors and flew up to Angel Fire, which is at 8,400 ft in a mountain valley.
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Unless it’s change a lot since I did them, the CPA+based flight isn’t a one-stop deal. It’s typically three airports with a progression in challenges.

The almost perpetual strong crosswinds at Angel Fire add yet another layer of skill. I personally wouldn’t recommend it without a strong grounding in crosswind landing technique.
 
MountainDude said:
There should be a course in Santa Fe, NM, in case CO does not work out. When I took it, we had experienced instructors and flew up to Angel Fire, which is at 8,400 ft in a mountain valley.
Click to expand...
The New Mexico Pilots Assoc has a similar program. NMPA concentrates on northern NM and souther CO, while CPA is northern and middle CO.

Mountain Flying - New Mexico Pilots Association

www.nmpilots.org www.nmpilots.org
 
midlifeflyer said:
Unless it’s change a lot since I did them, the CPA+based flight isn’t a one-stop deal. It’s typically three airports with a progression in challenges.

The almost perpetual strong crosswinds at Angel Fire add yet another layer of skill. I personally wouldn’t recommend it without a strong grounding in crosswind landing technique.
Click to expand...
CPA flight is Denver (one of 3 airports: KAPA, KBJC, KCFO) over Rollins/Corona Pass, Kremmling (Granby & Steamboat Springs might be an option) Glenwood Springs, Tennessee Pass to Aspen, Hagerman Pass to Leadville. This is a stop to get your certificate for landing at the highest paved airport in the US. Then back to your starting point in Denver.
 
thank you all. i shall follow said advice. i hope you all are getting in some good spring flying.
 
I took a lesson out of Eagle, was fun and detailed. DM me if you want the PowerPoint.
 
It's not in Colorado, but it's even better: I highly recommend Lori MacNichol and her crew of experienced instructors at Mountain Canyon Flying in McCall, ID.

Why do I say it's better? Because you get to go into some spectacular backcountry fields as part of the training, and fly into the mountains, not just around them:

N271G in Johnson Creek, ID.png

16 years and many hundreds of hours later, this still remains both some of the best learning as well as the most fun I've had in an airplane.
 
flyingcheesehead said:
It's not in Colorado, but it's even better: I highly recommend Lori MacNichol and her crew of experienced instructors at Mountain Canyon Flying in McCall, ID.

Why do I say it's better? Because you get to go into some spectacular backcountry fields as part of the training, and fly into the mountains, not just around them:

View attachment 139660

16 years and many hundreds of hours later, this still remains both some of the best learning as well as the most fun I've had in an airplane.
Click to expand...
I don’t agree “better.” I do agree “different.”

The CPA course is designed for pilots to learn how to safely navigate mountain passes and fly into public paved airports. Although some do take a mountain course solely for “the experience,” most I’ve seen have been either transients who fly into Colorado’s vacation destinations or are local pilots who will use that knowledge and those skills regularly.

It’s not a backcountry course with its very special additional challenges, even in areas where, for example, density altitude is not a significant factor. The goals are different and so is the focus of the courses.
 
midlifeflyer said:
I don’t agree “better.” I do agree “different.”

The CPA course is designed for pilots to learn how to safely navigate mountain passes and fly into public paved airports. Although some do take a mountain course solely for “the experience,” most I’ve seen have been either transients who fly into Colorado’s vacation destinations or are local pilots who will use that knowledge and those skills regularly.

It’s not a backcountry course with its very special additional challenges, even in areas where, for example, density altitude is not a significant factor. The goals are different and so is the focus of the courses.
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FWIW, mountain flying is still the focus of the course in Idaho. The backcountry part is just a bonus, and extra fun.
 
I want to thank all of you for chiming in on this post. I completed the post, got my CPA certificate and BFR out of it, plus another certificate from KLXV. It was a great course great experience and so glad I went. It was one for the books. I will be back up there flying again sometime next year. So gorgeous and so challenging. Of course, I will still have an instructor with me, I'm not thinking just because I had this course it somehow makes me an expert. Thanks again, Cheers!
 
flyingtexas said:
I want to thank all of you for chiming in on this post. I completed the post, got my CPA certificate and BFR out of it, plus another certificate from KLXV. It was a great course great experience and so glad I went. It was one for the books. I will be back up there flying again sometime next year. So gorgeous and so challenging. Of course, I will still have an instructor with me, I'm not thinking just because I had this course it somehow makes me an expert. Thanks again, Cheers!
Click to expand...
Who did you fly with?

I take the course every 3-4 years just to stay sharp, altho my high altitude/mountain flying is usually just to Leadville-Buena Vista-Salida area for lunch, or Alamosa for the avionics shop.
 
Thats great you had a good experience and learned about flying in the mountains. It can save your life. This isnt in Colorado but a great course if you want backcountry training. Mountain Canyon Flying in McCall, ID. Lots of ground school and flying into grass and gravel airstrips. If you are more into backcountry, this is the course. If mountain travel is you goal, you will learn everything you need to know but you will be flying your plane into some pretty rough but fun strips.
 
murphey said:
Who did you fly with?

I take the course every 3-4 years just to stay sharp, altho my high altitude/mountain flying is usually just to Leadville-Buena Vista-Salida area for lunch, or Alamosa for the avionics shop.
Click to expand...
Does CPA still do the western slope peach flight?
 
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