Mountain flying

IanR · August 4, 2007

I was in Colorado a week or so ago for work and had a morning free before flying home. Decided to go to the local airport at Longmont and rent a plane which I have never done overseas before. Had to take an instructor as I do not have a US licence.

Quite an interesting flight - we spent a bit over an hour cruising through the edge of the Rockies. Flying at 10,000 ft and seeing mountains 4,000 feet above you is quite something !! Airport elevation was just over 5,000 feet which makes things interesting as well - longer takeoff roll and significantly faster ground speed on landing.

A passenger I took up will be sending me some photos which I will post when they arrive.

Ultralights · August 4, 2007

any pics? how did you go about hiring an aircraft? did you need your logbook?

IanR · August 5, 2007

Pics will follow in the next day or so. There were no real issues with hiring the aircraft as I took an instructor with me. I didn't have anything there as I had not expected to be able to fly. What they did want was two forms of photo ID for security purposes. I did have a computer version of my logbook but they didn't look at it. The aircraft hire was significantly cheaper than here - $150 US for a C182 plus I had to pay for the instructor - even including that cost was cheaper than the usual private hire rate here !!

Not sure of the rules for RA licences flying overseas but my understanding is that my Australian PPL automatically gives me the same privileges on a US licence if I wanted to apply for one. I think you apply for a licence, do a US medical, a flight review (not sure about theory) and off you go.