mocfly Posted October 8, 2011 Report Share Posted October 8, 2011 Guys, I am planning on flying N530CT from Chattanooga to El Paso and then to Gallup New Mexico and would like to know if there is anything to be cautious about while flying in the southwest? Being taught to fly in NJ(TEB,CDW) and then transitioning to the southeast(CHA) brought new experiences and challenges. Having never flown into high altitude airports or at altitudes above 10k i welcome any words of wisdom. Thanks in advance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CT4ME Posted October 8, 2011 Report Share Posted October 8, 2011 Sure sounds like a nice flight... especially this time of year... One thought, right off the top.... pre-fly the whole thing on Google Earth... ChartGeek.com has free sectionals and TAC charts that you can install, and turn off/on as you desire. Google earth let's you easily see the altitudes - and you'll be able to pre-fly all the airports, etc. It looks like 2/3 of the way to El Paso is MSL 1500 feet or less, and you only get up around MSL 3k across the top of Texas. Although you'll need to get up to around 8K or so from El Paso to Gallup, your biggest problem will be watching the airspace... restricted areas everywhere. All the density altitude things hold true... but temps in the mornings will make it easily managable. If you've never taken off at DA 8K or above, be prepared for a shock. My first time, I was looking around to see if something was wrong, or if I had some control in the wrong position. It just doesn't take-off and climb like what you're used to. But that being said, the CT is a strong performer, compared to many GA aircraft. Tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mocfly Posted October 9, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 9, 2011 Tim, I have never used google earth for that purpose. Could you explain the process? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CT4ME Posted October 9, 2011 Report Share Posted October 9, 2011 Using Google Earth and the tilt feature, you can "fly" anywhere and see exactly what you would see from your airplane, at any altitude. I usually use the Ruler/Path tool to create a route, then follow it from about the same altitude as I would fly. You can "preview" the airports and approaches. You can fly over the mountain passes, etc. At the bottom center of the screen, it shows you the MSL altitude wherever the cursor touches. And to the right of that, is your "eye altitude" (your flying altitude). The ChartGeek stuff overlays current sectionals or terminal charts... so you can see airspace, freqs, obstructions, etc. A check-box on the left-side "places" area turns them on and off. Google earth even shows you current weax, radar and temps, by checking the "weather" box in the "layers" area. I sent you a KMZ file that illustrates with a simple straight flight from CHA-to-ELP. There's an embedded version of Google earth at the bottom of this page http://ctflier.com/index.php?/topic/8-2010-4th-annual-page-fly-in/... for the Page Fly-in folks. PS... When is your flight? Are you coming to the Page Fly-in? Tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wlfpckrs Posted October 10, 2011 Report Share Posted October 10, 2011 www.landings.com has a nice, free flight planning tool. You can plug in waypoints, and it will show you a cross-section of the terrain enroute. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mocfly Posted October 12, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 12, 2011 Tim, Unfortunately I won't be at page. I would have enjoyed it for sure. I look forward to maybe coming out next year. Our plan is to fly to el paso so I can visit a potential client and then fly to Gallup so my passenger( president of our flying club) and co-pilot can visit some relatives. Best case would have been to fly into Tucson (my retirement destination) and have Roger do the rubber replacement while I looked at homes in the foothills. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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