Highest altitude?
Posted: Sun Nov 11, 2018 9:39 pm
Flew my MX7-180A from Oklahoma to Montana on Saturday. Got into Billings at 3:30pm and had a few interesting experiences:
Left Oklahoma City at 6:30am and first stop was Scott City, KS (TQK) at about 9am. Ground speed on the downwind was 168mph when I glanced at foreflight, while I was indicating about 110mph. At ground level it was a manageable 30kts mostly down the runway. However, taxiing to the fuel island was extremely difficult...had to basically ride one brake to handle the weathervaning.
Departed TQK at 9:30 for Buffalo, WY (BYG). At 10am, foreflight said my arrival time with my current ground speed was in 3.5 hours. An hour later at 11am, foreflight was saying I still had 4 more hours to go. The gusty tailwind had turned into a steady headwind. About 25kts there in Buffalo.
Got some more gas in BYG, and just before I departed for Billings, I had a flying friend that drove that route about an hour ahead of me tell me that the MT/WY state line was 2 mile visibility, snow, and ice, with cars in the ditch. Told me that I could climb above it and could get back down through broken layers as I got closer to Billings. Initially climbed to 9000...then 10,500...then 11,500...then 12,500. That still wasn't enough and after about 5 minutes I had to climb up to 13,600 to stay above everything. It was about 0 degrees F and the heater tried it's best, but couldn't quite keep up. About 20 miles from Billings I started to see large enough gaps in the clouds to circle down through. From 13,000 down to 6,000 was ice crystals and haze...made the carb pick up some ice in a hurry, but cleared it quick with the carb heat. Another sporty landing in Billings with a 25kt wind that was 40 degrees off runway heading.
Anyone here had their Maules up that high (13,600) or even higher?
Left Oklahoma City at 6:30am and first stop was Scott City, KS (TQK) at about 9am. Ground speed on the downwind was 168mph when I glanced at foreflight, while I was indicating about 110mph. At ground level it was a manageable 30kts mostly down the runway. However, taxiing to the fuel island was extremely difficult...had to basically ride one brake to handle the weathervaning.
Departed TQK at 9:30 for Buffalo, WY (BYG). At 10am, foreflight said my arrival time with my current ground speed was in 3.5 hours. An hour later at 11am, foreflight was saying I still had 4 more hours to go. The gusty tailwind had turned into a steady headwind. About 25kts there in Buffalo.
Got some more gas in BYG, and just before I departed for Billings, I had a flying friend that drove that route about an hour ahead of me tell me that the MT/WY state line was 2 mile visibility, snow, and ice, with cars in the ditch. Told me that I could climb above it and could get back down through broken layers as I got closer to Billings. Initially climbed to 9000...then 10,500...then 11,500...then 12,500. That still wasn't enough and after about 5 minutes I had to climb up to 13,600 to stay above everything. It was about 0 degrees F and the heater tried it's best, but couldn't quite keep up. About 20 miles from Billings I started to see large enough gaps in the clouds to circle down through. From 13,000 down to 6,000 was ice crystals and haze...made the carb pick up some ice in a hurry, but cleared it quick with the carb heat. Another sporty landing in Billings with a 25kt wind that was 40 degrees off runway heading.
Anyone here had their Maules up that high (13,600) or even higher?