Density Altitude

[bret]

Attended the FAA Wings siminar in Tahoe last night, (mountain flying) and was amazed in the number of accidents and deaths related to high density altitede. ( Folks taking off full rich) people from lower elevation fly up to 6000ish msl and think they are taking off at 6K when the plane sees 9000ish! Not as big of a problem for the RV, but a big one for the spam can rentals that frequent the area.

[David Paule]

For me, living in Colorado, it's always surprising to see the improvement in take-off and climb performance when I go down to sea level.

Dave

[Ron Lee]

Could I suggest renaming this Density Altitude, High Density Altitude or Mountainous High Density Altitude?

You are correct. Not everyone knows about proper leaning and all the other factors flying up here. That is one reason why we added the mountain flying course from AOPA in the RVFlightSafety.org website

[bret]

Could not change the title but mabe somone with more permissions could.

[randyintejas]

Yep! Learned my lesson in ?05 with PA-28 at ABQ. It was only 87 degrees and I used 9000ft of runway on takeoff, yikes! In Texas 87 is a nice cool morning! Needless to say I learned what DA was on that day and have watched it close since. Climbing out at 100ft per min is not fun and a real I opener! I was a fairly new pilot and only my 2nd time to a high airport.

[rv6rick]

Thanks for asking !!

Originally Posted by bret

Could not change the title but mabe somone with more permissions could.

[BobTurner]

Remember the Jessica Dubroff (sp?) crash?
1. C177, not known as a great climber
2. Density altitude over 6K
3. Mixture full rich
4. Aircraft loaded beyond gross weight
5. Heavy rain, field below vfr minimums
6. Nearby convective activity.

Sometimes you can get away with some of these things, but all 6 at once? You just have to ask how strong the "get there-ittis" is with some PICs.

[Ron Lee]

I have only read a wiki article on Jessica so do not know if the NTSB report has the mixture at full rich, but this was clearly a gross poor call by the pilot that resulted in three people dead.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessica_Dubroff

This is the sort of thing that RV pilots can avoid and help reduce our accident/fatality rate.

I just found an AvWeb article that reports the mixture control was full rich.

http://www.avweb.com/news/safety/183036-1.html

[ColoCardinal]

I was consulted by several news organizations when Jessica crashed. It was the decision to depart into convective weather that doomed that flight. A turboprop scheduled to Rdepart before her decided to wait it out. Dont overestimate the capabilities of your RVs or you skills. Thats what gets you killed. KNOW before you go. That means both the plane and your capabilities. And NEVER underestimate weather, it has killed people far more skilled and better equiped than any of us are likely to be.

[David Z]

Originally Posted by ColoCardinal

NEVER underestimate weather, it has killed people far more skilled and better equiped than any of us are likely to be.

Well said!