Attn Flatlanders - Look at maps when flying in Colorado

[Guest Scott Campbell]

For the fifteenth time in a few years, another flatlander finds out there's a rather large obstacle when flying West along I-70 in Colorado.Flatlanders from Canada (they're usually from Texas), flying a really small plane - with no turbocharging - in the mountains - in Colorado - found out that they didn't have enough power to get over Loveland Pass when reaching the Eisenhower Tunnel. No Kidding Sherlock.They didn't realize the highway didn't go all the way from Denver to Grand Junction in a lovely valley low enough for a powerless plane to fly all the way through. This is a popular route for people who didn't look at maps to go - and they all end up in a pile at Loveland Pass for the same reason.Fortunately the couple wasn't badly hurt on the landing which was made on the Loveland Ski Area slope, but I think they learned a valuable lesson:Moral of the story: Look at your maps. When you see this symbol |---| on a highway, it means there's a tunnel, usually through a really high mountain. Also, when you're flying through mountainous terrain - ask what's there and if your toy is powerful enough to get through the things.http://avsim.com/flightdeck/temp/plane.jpgYou can scan the Colorado news sites for the story. I hope you all learn a valuable lesson as well. This couple was very, VERY lucky because the guy was good enough to know how to perform a safe crash.

[Guest joea]

Jeez Scott no end to the maroons out there...you say they're from Canada eh? I sure hope that's Saskatchewan or Manitoba. They would really be dumb if they were from British Columbia.:-eek

[Guest Scott Campbell]

Joe,Ontario, but the guy claims he's flown a lot in Western Canada. Seems unlikely, but then again there's not a two-mile long tunnel through a 12,000' mountain on a major interstate is there? I've never flown in Western Canada.I bet the guy doesn't get his deposit back for the rental he almost destroyed. Fortunately it's still flyable and it'll be fixed for the next moron.He claims that he'll fly again, but I bet he'll be required to get a serious recert before being given the keys!BTW -- the couple are fine and took a bus to Las Vegas. :-lol

[brucek 38]

Hi Scott,Yes, I saw this on the Ch 4 news the night after it occurred. Seems like a C172. I fly a C172SP (larger BHP than the "regular" one, for those that don't know), and I'm limiting myself to flat country flying- with a sc of barely 14,000', that's not much over those rocks up there!Bruce.KBJC, Jeffco, CO

[Guest]

I bet the guy doesn't get his deposit back for the rental he almost destroyed. Fortunately it's still flyable and it'll be fixed for the next moron.I am a real world pilot with a few thousand or so accident free hours logged and yes, I also rent aircraft from time to time. The first thing I was taught when I began flying lessons, was, Pilots do not criticises or laugh at the misgivings of fellow pilots. None of us are perfect.Accidents can and do happen to the BEST of us.Another thing I was taught

[Guest]

Scott's post seemed pretty reasonable to me, however perhaps you should read yours again."You can tell more about a person by what they say about Others, than by what others say about them."and"So, it would seem to me that the only Moron around here is you."Congratulations, by your own logic you called yourself a Moron on your first post to AVSIM.

[Guest]

Well, there you go. You clever man. You got the message.None of us are perfect, including you and me.

[brucek 38]

I can't help but respond to this:I'm also a real world pilot, and live not that far from the accident scene, in Boulder, CO. I agree with you about the pilot fraternity -up to someone being stupid. At that point, they become a danger to themselves and/or others (luckily here, no-one on the ground was hurt).This is an open-and-shut case of poor and/or inadequate flight planning, there's no excuse for that, much less that we are all required by law to know everything possible about a flight we undertake. Such things as weather can change, but terrain??Scott's point is well taken- we see it here all the time, people that have no appreciation of mountain flying, the up/down drafts, the terrain, the rate at which it rises (especially on the eastern flanks of the Rockies). I've lived here for years, and know a lot about the mountains, but there's no way I would take a plane like that over the tunnel area. Bruce.