{mosimage}On my recent trip to the USA, it occured to me that it would be nice to do an aerial tour of such places as the San Francisco bridge and the Grand Canyon. In the last news letter I mentioned how spectacular the Golden Gate bridge was from the air, and certainly it was a highlight for me (if not for my daughter).
When considering the options for flying to the Grand Canyon however it seemed prudent to enlist the help of experts because:
1) There are numerous ‘special’ regulations regarding flying anywhere near the Grand Canyon. For example from the ground to 14,500 feet special regulations apply! Some areas are prohibited entirely, for example no flying is allowed near Bright Angel Lodge. (See SFAR No. 50 – Part 91, if you really want the details). There are also SFARs for Hawaii and Washington, all of them make life more complicated for the pilot.
{mosimage}2) The Grand Canyon is really, really remote. Getting to it from somewhere like Las Vegas for example takes a short time of a fast plane, but in your Cessna you’d be flying for hours. To add to the problem the terrain is really inhospitable. Look at the terrain picture taken from my comfortable mini-airliner seat. Can you spot the solitary road! (See picture 1)
3) Once you get there you really need someone who knows what they are doing! The green stretch Cessnas on the apron at the Grand Canyon airport do know their business. (See picture 2).{mosimage}
4) As I noticed walking around near the Grand Canyon, the air is thin. There is less oxygen per litre of air so breathing becomes more difficult. The same would apply to an aircraft engine. It develops less power. Even worse the wings are less effective because they have less air desnity to ‘grab’ hold off. In case you didn’t know this there’s a sign available for all pilots to read just before take off (See picture 3). Density altitude is not really an issue in the UK most of the time (except on those rare very hot days), but in the US it can be a real issue.
So remember to check you POH for your aircraft. There will be a table in there with distances and temperatures versus heights. Don’t let density altitude take you by surprise!
