PilotAlan
Pattern Altitude
- Joined
- Sep 26, 2009
- Messages
- 1,775
- Display Name
Display name:
PilotAlan
Took the wife and her sister down to MIL's house in Booker, TX for the weekend (into KPYX, Perryton, TX) about 40 miles southeast of Liberal, KS). Perfect trip for a plane-as-time-machine, it's 8 hours driving time, 2.3hrs by Cherokee.
We filled to the tabs. We were planning to leave Saturday morning, but decided to leave Friday afternoon.
94*F, density altitude of 8800ft. With us, fuel to the tabs, and baggage we were 200# under gross. I knew we would have a long roll and slow climb, and everything was exactly as expected, but still..... 3000' to get off the ground, and climbing at 400ft/min was a bit eye opening.
How often do we actually fly at gross, and in high/hot conditions?
It was hazy from the fires, and bumpy. Took a loooong time to get to 10.5k to get to smooth, cool, clear air (about 30 minutes). Had to level off a couple times to get the oil temps down.
Once at alt, nice and cool, smooth, with tailwinds. Bumpy on the descent into KPYX once we descended through the layer.
Saturday, it was a really good thing we left Friday. Unforecast line of storms roared over the area, ceilings 100ft, until afternoon.
Sunday, winds were 5G15 straight down the runway. Rotated and lifted off at 1500ft down the runway, and it must have been the G15 that went away, because we settled back to the runway. for just a sec. I wasn't expecting that and was considering aborting, when she climbed up and away beautifully.
Climbed over the layer (still hazy) at 8500, and smooth until Lamar (KLAA). Climbed another thousand to 9500. Tailwinds (westbound!) the whole way, with groundspeeds up to 140kts. Uneventful return.
Beautiful weekend, great to see everyone, and back without being wiped out from 16 hours of driving in 48 hours.
We filled to the tabs. We were planning to leave Saturday morning, but decided to leave Friday afternoon.
94*F, density altitude of 8800ft. With us, fuel to the tabs, and baggage we were 200# under gross. I knew we would have a long roll and slow climb, and everything was exactly as expected, but still..... 3000' to get off the ground, and climbing at 400ft/min was a bit eye opening.
How often do we actually fly at gross, and in high/hot conditions?
It was hazy from the fires, and bumpy. Took a loooong time to get to 10.5k to get to smooth, cool, clear air (about 30 minutes). Had to level off a couple times to get the oil temps down.
Once at alt, nice and cool, smooth, with tailwinds. Bumpy on the descent into KPYX once we descended through the layer.
Saturday, it was a really good thing we left Friday. Unforecast line of storms roared over the area, ceilings 100ft, until afternoon.
Sunday, winds were 5G15 straight down the runway. Rotated and lifted off at 1500ft down the runway, and it must have been the G15 that went away, because we settled back to the runway. for just a sec. I wasn't expecting that and was considering aborting, when she climbed up and away beautifully.
Climbed over the layer (still hazy) at 8500, and smooth until Lamar (KLAA). Climbed another thousand to 9500. Tailwinds (westbound!) the whole way, with groundspeeds up to 140kts. Uneventful return.
Beautiful weekend, great to see everyone, and back without being wiped out from 16 hours of driving in 48 hours.
