flaps15
Super Anarchist
I cut my teeth in, around and over the mountains of Western Pa., where the type of flying the Steven's airplane was attempting, killed a lot of people. Scud running into places like Nemacolin, Latrobe, Blairsville, Altoona and Johnstown to name a few, was crazy flying not to mention as we all know illegal. While it's recognized in Alaska as day to day flying, my point was attempting to demonstrate that in a faster aircraft, there most probably would have been no survivors. It wasn't an attempted discussion or debate about Vx vs. Vy and Density Altitude was IMO the larger factor. Keeping in mind these bug speeds are not written in stone. If you've never flown into a box canyon/valley below minimums with granite obstructions all around on a hot day, visibility up and down and depending on the aircraft and the pilots discretion, (if good, would've never been there in the first place) which is why I chose not to comment about the details of the crash without the facts. What I read up to the point of my post was the aircraft crashed at full power and in a nose up position on the obstruction.* Straight and level VFR without obstructions or low vis comments don't seem to apply here. But guaranteed, Density Altitude and being scared to shit had a big impact. A conversation I would gladly have without the encumbrance of a keyboard.I'm a flatlander, and curious why Vx would not be best? I know that in gliders, or airplanes that suddenly become gliders, you're supposed to add half the wind speed to your best glide speed to make the most distance upwind. Is what you're talking about something like that? (Commercial Airplane S&MEL and Glider, Instrument (airplane), former CFII, +/- 1,500 hrs, almost all in FL and the Bahamas, so try to talk to me down on my level.)
As for Biff's comments, personally reminiscent of days gone by waiting for my Part 135 passenger/s in the terminal listening to the "airport bums" hanging and watching and dreaming. It would be interesting to see how his attitude adjusts after he shoots his first ADF approach below minimums, with a 90 degree cross-wind and no boots or hot prop in freezing rain and a twenty-eight hundred foot mountain range less than a mile off, paralleling the runway. Groundspeed? gimmee a break. Stay current there, Biff.
*"The Otter had plowed into the hill, Bouker said. "He bounced up the mountain. He looked like he was in a full power climb. ... He looked like he was climbing when he hit." -Anchorage Daily News
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