Having just returned from a month flying my SR22 among the 14,000-foot peaks of Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana, I know I could not have accomplished it safely without first completing the Colorado Flying Eagle mountain flying school with instructors Vern Foster, Bill Marshall, and Don Dolce. I give my strongest recommendation to this team.
As a pilot born and raised at sea level, I had no real clue about mountain weather systems, my aircraft performance at high elevation, or how to survive an off-airport landing in cold, rugged terrain. In fact, upon my initial arrival at DenverÂ’s Centennial airport, I landed with a full rich mixture and nearly stalled on a taxiway.
These guys took control, beginning with a 10-hour ground school that made me feel confident that there is no such thing as a dumb question. (“The pilot who doesn’t ask a dumb question is a dead pilot.”) The PowerPoint curriculum was complete with books, a video, charts, and 200-page bound syllabus.
Ground school was followed the next day by a five-hour cross-country training flight with Don Dolce landing at six high elevation airports including Aspen and Leadville at 9927 feet, the country’s highest elevation airport. (It was hot; density altitude over 13,000 feet). I left Denver feeling capable and safe. The next few weeks were spent flying in the mountains to the finest trout fishing water in North America.
Interested pilots can reach Vern Foster at 303-751-9421 or Bill Marshall at 303-341-4744. Ground school for one pilot costs $295, and is less expensive for multiple students. The flight instruction is $165. The experience, as they say, is priceless.
Maybe I’ll learn something here. Was this in your SR22? I thought the maximum take off altitude was 10K feet.
It is stated in the POH as 10,000 feet MSL, not in terms of density altitude. So this limitation is moot in the Continental US. But if you land in La Paz, Bolivia, you’re stuck there! (13,313 MSL.)
That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be taking density altitude into consideration! Obviously, you should. (Actually, you must.)
You’re right. I should have looked closer at the POH. The max take off “pressure altitude” is 10,000 feet, and the take off distance is then a function of the temperature. (i.e @ 3400 LB, take off distance increases to 5025 feet over 50 ft, and the DA is ~15000 ft).
The max take off “pressure altitude” is 10,000 feet…
In my POH, page 2-8 has:
Maximum Takeoff Altitude …10,000 Feet MSL
I don’t see where pressure altitude is used for this limitation. Is there a different section of the POH that references pressure altitude as the 10,000’ limitation? Odd as it seems, it looks like it is just plain old 10,000 MSL, whether it is 100 degrees above or below zero or the altimeter setting is 26" or 31"!
I’m guessing that Cirrus at some time changed it to read MSL?
Here is the relevant citation: page 2-8 from the Limitation section of the Sr22 POH:
There is nothing in the performance section that precludes you from taking off at a density altitude higher than 10,000. It warns you to be careful but does not prohibit this. It says:
For operation in outside air temperatures warmer than this table provides, use extreme caution.
So as far as the POH goes you are legal to takeoff from an airport that is at 10,000 feet no matter what the density altitude is. Obviously it might be very stupid to do so and you may very well violate the “careless and reckless” FARs.
Obviously I am not endorsing unsafe operations! Just pointing out that the POH doesn’t always prohibit stupidity.
