Quote:
Originally Posted by johnr9q
Would you feel safe Flying the RV-12 over the California Sierra through a 9000 foot pass and spend 45 minutes in the death zone where there is no place to land that wouldn't turn out very bad?
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I spent a lot of time the last 2-3 years before we moved east flying over the Sierras in a lot of different airplanes. To answer the OP's original question, yes I would do it, with some considerations.
This is purely my experience and some of my considerations when I was out there, standby for free advice.
Flying the Sierras is a lot of fun, but must be respected. If you haven't done much mountain flying, read up on it. A quick search here will yield you some good info and good books to read.
Some of my personal rules to live by...
Never point at anything you're not already above. If climb performance is in question, be well above (1.5x the height of the obstacle) before you push across.
Don't descend into anything you're not familiar with. Sight seeing can be enticing, and yes I've gone raging down some ravines with marginal clearance on either side at full tilt. That said I knew it was down hill the whole way, opened out up into a valley, and there were no obstructions like bridges/powerlines/etc. Going down to take a peek at whatever is not worth getting boxed in without the climb and turn performance to go back up. You can see it just fine from where you are unless you can see how you're going to get out or back up before you descend.
Stay on the down wind side of any canyon, if you need to turn around making the 180 into the wind will reduce your radius of turn. Get comfortable max performing the airplane. Minimum radius, max performance climbing turns, min radius turns, etc. Speed is life, pay attention to it. Spot landings, crosswind landings, short runways, all at once. Be comfortable with them. Not aircraft carrier capable, just know that you may have to land at a 3-4K' strip that's 40' wide with a gusty crosswind.
Have an out... or a plan. You don't need to have an airport in gliding distance, but have a road, forestry trail, something. If the worst happens these airplanes land slow enough that as long as you're under control when you come down the speeds are slow enough that it will most likely be survivable. There are a lot of places in the Sierras above the tree line with large flat rock areas that you could set down on, and probably not break the plane. That said, you'll probably break the airplane. You accepted that risk when you took off. You're just looking for a place to survive.
Tell someone you're going, exactly where you'll be and when, and tell them when you arrive. Don't plan on flight following, radar coverage isn't great. Don't deviate from that plan, if you're hurt or incapacitated the fastest way to get rescued is for them to know exactly where you were. Have 121.5 tuned up somewhere ready to go, and know your location. There's a lot of airline/military traffic in the area monitoring and if you can get out a quick mayday XX miles on a 123 bearing from XYZ airport, the word will get passed.
Stay with the airplane, unless there are bears. Then just hope you can outrun your passengers.
Dress to egress. If you land on one of those dirt roads and the plane catches fire, what you have on you is all you've got. You make look like a dork getting into your airplane when it's 75 in the valley wearing boots/jeans/jacket/etc but when you're climbing out of your burning wreckage at 9000' you're probably spending the night, and it's going to be cold. If the plane survives with all your stuff, bonus. The best two things you can have on you are a knife, a lighter, and a mirror. I can tell you from experience, you can see a survival mirror from a long way off (hundred miles in some cases). Use the knife to whittle a new airplane while you wait next to the fire you started with the lighter.
Do not, Do Not, DO NOT attempt to scud run. If you're facing a low ceiling and you can't see under it all the way across, stay out of it. Period.
Most importantly... know what the winds aloft are doing. Anything over 10-15 knots is going to be bumpy, over 20 you're going to get wave action that you may not be able to out climb (but remember what goes down comes back up, and vice versa, with some experience you'll learn to use it to your advantage). Anything over 25 knots aloft and you're looking at rotor activity. Read the clouds, they'll tell you a lot.