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An RV-7A at 8000' field elevation? No problem

mark@topogen.com

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Just a nice little flight taking off from KAEJ in central Colorado, 30nm south of Leadville (180hp Constant speed prop, 2 guys, nearly full fuel). Be prepared to pre-lean and a loooooonnnnnnggggg take off roll. My first 50h of flight time was all at 8000' field elevation. Flew to Texas (sea level my 1st fuel stop), acceleration performance was a shock.... holy crap.
 
[email protected] said:
Just a nice little flight taking off from KAEJ in central Colorado, 30nm south of Leadville (180hp Constant speed prop, 2 guys, nearly full fuel). Be prepared to pre-lean and a loooooonnnnnnggggg take off roll. My first 50h of flight time was all at 8000' field elevation. Flew to Texas (sea level my 1st fuel stop), acceleration performance was a shock.... holy crap.
Click to expand...
That's what us sea level guys say when we fly to the mountains!
 
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I remember flying my first RV3 at sea level in 1999. I accidentally exceeded redline speed on downwind! All of my flying up to that point had been from a field elevation of at least 5016’.

I remember coming out of Leadville, CO (KLXV) in the backseat of Dean Hall’s chubby RV4 with Jon Johansen and Fred Stucklen following nearby in their planes. Dean was doing rolls as we were climbing out. I really need to dig through some old boxes to find the (film) pictures from that day!

I took my 1968 Cherokee 140 to all the Colorado mountain airports. Heck, I even took my 1947 7AC Champ from Loveland, CO (KFNL) to Steamboat Springs, CO (KSBS) one day. It can be done, but pack a lunch! RVs are still subject to the laws of physics and thermal dynamics, of course, but they do MUCH better than the spam cans most of us initially trained in!
 
I dropped into Leadville one day for fuel, density altitude was up around 13k and change. A Bonanza pilot on the field realized I was preflighting after fueling with intent to depart and absolutely came unglued. He spent the next 10 minutes trying talk sense into me about not trying to depart in that "little homebuilt airplane" that didn't have enough performance, not even "the real airplanes" could do that and did I understand anything about density altitude? Would I please talk to an instructor first? Etc Etc

I let him go on for a bit, then as I was getting in the cockpit I told him "Look, your heart is in the right place, and I appreciate what you're doing. I built the airplane, I know what it can do, and this is perfectly safe. But if you are still concerned, you might want to hang around and watch my departure, because one of us is about to get surprised."

The takeoff roll was long, climbout uneventful, pitch for 90 knots and I was seeing about 500fpm, no problems. Life is good.
 
During a recent first flight to KTVL (around 6000 ft elevation), my engine quit on the landing roll! That got the adrenalin flowing a bit. The pre-landing checklist I wrote contains "Mixture: Full rich" and I just followed it without thinking. One of those live and learn moments I suppose.
 
When my wife and I first flew our newly built RV4 to Leadville, KLXV, elevation 9934 ft in 1990, two ladies operated there from a cozy wooden cabin adjacent to a small aircraft parking area and taxiway. Ursula and Vareena, one the airport manager and the other the lone instructor pilot at Leadville, kept an old stove stocked with wood to keep the office and small pilot room comfortably warm. They always had home baked chocolate chip cookies and a pot of coffee for pilots and passengers to be enjoyed outside on old chairs surrounding a large wooden cable drum rescued from some construction site. We would sit outside in the winter as the Sangre Range and University Range covered in snow made an unforgettable sight. Even as I type this at age 78, I still remember this scene as if we had just been there yesterday. All that has been replaced by a huge ramp and executive hangar losing the charm the place once had and I don't know where the gals went. We decreased our flights to Leadville after that and I no longer perform aerobatics over the field to the enthusiastic delight of our girlfriends. My GIB passed away four years ago and now the rear seat goes mostly empty but flying to Leadville brings back many wonderful memories. While I haven't been at KTVL lately, I recall the 6000ft. elevation isn't much of a challenge to a 160hp RV4.
 
Wow, six runway stripes to take off! Down here in the lowlands I usually position myself between 3 and 4 to get a 6/7 at rotation.
 
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