Re: [COUPERS-FLYIN] FL to OSH

Dan Hall Thu, 23 Jun 2005 22:00:46 -0700

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Ed & Percy,

BOTH of you are correct. Percy's advice to 'ASK the locals' is one key part of educating yourself to make YOUR go / no go decision (as Ed points out). The local can provide a lot of very useful information however, it's up to the PIC to factor in the limits of his aircraft & his own personal experience.

I fly out west and have had to turn around at 1:30 in the afternoon when a growing cumulonimbus was trying to suck my Ercoupe up over 11,500'.

Sparky wrote a good book on mountain flying, and I read it before heading out from California across the Sierra Nevada & Rockies for Oshkosh in 2003.

Dan Hall

N3968H

----- Original Message -----

From: Ed Burkhead

To: Coupe-List

Sent: Thursday, June 23, 2005 7:19 PM

Subject: RE: [COUPERS-FLYIN] FL to OSH
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Percy said:

> One of Wood's Wondrous Rules is "Always ask the locals."

But Percy, One of Sparky Imesons rules in his book Mountain Flying is something like dont take the locals word for it that you can take off safely unless they thoroughly know about doing so in YOUR airplane.

I ask the locals, listen to them, evaluate what that means for my own equipment and personal skill, then make my own decision.

Ed

From: Wood, Percy [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Thursday, June 23, 2005 12:30 PM
To: 'Ed Burkhead'; Coupe-List
Subject: RE: [COUPERS-FLYIN] FL to OSH

Backing up what Ed says, Derrick.

In the Mountain West, the higher altitude makes for more flux between the day-time heat and the night-time cool. That means extreme thermals. Opal Walker says to be on the ground by noon. We respected that between Roswell and Terrill and had no problems. Ed's lower prairies have different rules. Knowing these rules make cross country flying safer and more enjoyable. But knowing that the rules change from place to place is the key point. One of Wood's Wondrous Rules is "Always ask the locals."

Lots of luck on your trip to The Big "O." Take lots of pictures and build a web page for www.ercoupe.org.

Percy

From: Ed Burkhead [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Thursday, June 23, 2005 11:17 AM
To: Coupe-List
Subject: RE: [COUPERS-FLYIN] FL to OSH
 
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Darick,

That's no kind of official terminology. It's what I call it.

Thermals start at ground level and develop structure as they go up. They always top out at a certain level which depends on the temperature at each layer and the moisture in the air. Early in the day, they'll top out at 2,000-3,000 and the level raises through the day as the temperature goes up.

When I went out West, I found that the really strong thermals they have there top out higher than Ercoupe fly. I got under a cloud street of thermals, each topped with a cumulous cloud, and had trouble staying below 12,500' with no power.

Here, in the Midwest and Central states, the afternoon top of the thermals, thus the layer where the cumulous clouds are created, goes up to 7,000 and sometimes higher. I can't remember seeing it higher than 9,000 around here.

What I call the bump layer is the base of the cumulous clouds. That flat bottom of the clouds is right at the place where it gets smooth as you climb up between them.

As a chicken-VFR pilot, I always kept big and/or frequent gaps in the cloud available so I could glide through clear air if I shut off the engine at any time.

But, because of my motion sickness tendencies, I like having a climb prop and I cruised higher than any other Couper I've ever met. Also, flying has mostly cured my motion sickness for all vehicles and boats. Just those very thermally days sometimes make me wish I was on the ground.

Now, I'm building a Challenger II Long Wing with which I hope to do some soaring on the thermally days. I guess I'll have to get to *like* the thermals! ;-) I might even register it as an experimental glider (self-launch).   (Still a long way to go in building - everything gets in the way.)

Ed Burkhead

http://edburkhead.com

ed -at- edburkhead???.com          (change -at- to @ and remove "???")

From: Darick Gundy [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Thursday, June 23, 2005 11:25 AM
To: 'Ed Burkhead'
Subject: RE: [COUPERS-FLYIN] FL to OSH

Hello Ed,

    The bump layer? Are you referring to the effect thermals have and I can also assume that they normally don't go higher than 7000-8000 ft?    Although I've always been an aviation enthusiast, there is new jargon to learn once you start talking with pilots.

Darick (7 hours now in the log book!)
 
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Re: [COUPERS-FLYIN] FL to OSH

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