Relay-Version: B 2.11 6/12/87; site scolex Path: uunet!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!pacbell.com!tandem!Lyon_Jim@Tandem.Com From: Lyon_Jim@Tandem.Com (Jim Lyon) Newsgroups: rec.aviation Subject: Kearsarge Pass (was Box Canyons) Message-ID: <1991Aug7.190410.11532@tandem.com> Date: Wed, 07 Aug 91 12:04:10 PDT References: <3410210@aspen.IAG.HP.COM> <1991Aug6.224834.3757@casbah.acns.nwu.edu> <19148@darkstar.ucsc.edu> Sender: news@tandem.com Organization: Tandem Computers, Inc Lines: 38 Nntp-Posting-Host: 130.252.133.166 In article <19148@darkstar.ucsc.edu>, rob@ucsco.ucsc.edu (99708000) describes how to kill yourself trying to fly Kearsarge Pass. It thought that the net might be interested in the advice that I got from an instructor before I first flew it. 1. The pass itself is at 11,823 feet. Given the various altimetry errors that are possible [remote altimeter setting, nonstandard temperature, etc], 1000 feet is a rock-bottom altitude margin. 2000 feet is more comfortable. 2. When passing over the large reservoir east of Fresno, start climbing from 11,500 to 14,000 feet. If you can't make 14,000, you don't have sufficient climb performance to deal with the pass. Turn around and go back. 3. When you get to 14,000, the ridge line in the distance looks like: /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ | | |_____| The notch is the pass. Fly towards it, in spite of how the river turns underneath you. Over the years, I've had occasion to want to fly Kearsarge Pass about a dozen times. Two of them were rerouted on the basis of preflight weather information. Two others were aborted when I did my climb, and discovered that I couldn't see the pass because clouds were sitting on the ridge. The other eight were some of the more spectacular flights I've had. One moral of the story: When flying in mountains, some extra altitude gives you more options, and makes navigation via pilotage a _whole_ _lot_ easier. Jim Lyon "... where the work is NonStop, jimbo@Tandem.Com and we do everything twice."