Well I took a 180 mile flight today from PAOR to PACV ( Northway to Cordova). Wanted to check out the trim on the Maule, and this flight goes over a Glacier called Mt Blackburn in Wrangell St Elias National Park. The terrain on the sectional shows 16,700 feet as the highest point.

 

Started the flight climbing out to around 5k, trimmed the Maule, and it was like it was on auto pilot. Tracked straight as an arrow for mile after mile until I got near the base of that mountain range, and I just trimmed it for a climb of abut 500 fpm and along we went. I noticed as I gained altitude, the my airspeed started decreasing along with the MP. Around 14 k, the airspeed went down to around 66 knots which was getting me about 250 fpm climb, and there was nothing I could do to increase the climb rate. Tried lowering the nose a bit, didn't help, played with the prop adjustment, still nothing improved, changed the flaps from -7 to 0, that made it climb slower. As I got up to around 15,000, now I was climbing at about 50 fpm, and I had a ways to go to get to 16,700 if that is how high the terrain went. At 15, 856 feet, climb rate was zero, and airspeed was 64 knots, and I had a 34 knot headwind. Hmmmm.. Oh well, now I am hoping I can clear the rising terrain ahead, because the only place to land is on the Glacier. Changing anything starts me into a descent. ( this sounds like I am just about at the point where I am almost behind the power curve, or will be very soon)... If I try and turn, I know for sure I will lose altitude in the bank cause I cannot increase the angle of attack at this altitude, and that Glacier looks awfully close. Up ahead to the left I see some heavy dark clouds, and some rocks around the clouds, and I am wondering if there are any "rocks in the clouds"...

 

So I just keep trucking along, not touching anything, and aim for the lowest area of terrain I can see.

 

Still Climbing with about another 10 miles to go to the highest point.

 

I finally get to the top of the climb, and can see over the edge and down into the lower terrain in front of me, with these dark clouds on either side, and all of a sudden, the nose pitches up about 30 degrees, and I am climbing at 1,000 fpm, :help: then I am descending at the same rate, and rolling from side to side at 45 degrees each way. How do you say "severe turbulence ". I went from nose up 30 deg, to nose down the same amount, and at the same time rolling from right to left just as badly, 45 degs each way. This went on for miles, with a lull here and there, all the way down the side of this mountain. It didn't subside, until I was down to about 1000 feet and 5 miles from the airport, and even the approach to Cordova was bumpy. When I finally touched down, I was exhausted. I then remembered that I had set the flying conditions for weather at T -storms this morning, and that may be what caused the turbulence, or maybe just the mountain down draft turbulence itself. If that mountain , where I passed though had risen over 16,000 feet, I would have had to land up there, cause there was no way the Maule was going to go any higher, and I could not make a U turn.

 

Fun Trip......

Just had a trip up to the top of the world in the cub. Maxed out at around 18,500ft although it was still climbing . I ran out of time to go any higher. I eventually landed at 16,500ft. I had to keep the motor revving to prevent the aircraft from slipping backwards even with the parking brakes on. Getting airborne again was a laugh. Just accelerate of the side of the mountain and dive like mad to build up airspeed. Great fun!

 

Took a couple of screenies -

 

 

 

 

 

Well I took a 180 mile flight today from PAOR to PACV ( Northway to Cordova).

 

Great story!!!

Well I took a 180 mile flight today from PAOR to PACV ( Northway to Cordova). Wanted to check out the trim on the Maule, and this flight goes over a Glacier called Mt Blackburn in Wrangell St Elias National Park. The terrain on the sectional shows 16,700 feet as the highest point.

 

Started the flight climbing out to around 5k, trimmed the Maule, and it was like it was on auto pilot. Tracked straight as an arrow for mile after mile until I got near the base of that mountain range, and I just trimmed it for a climb of abut 500 fpm and along we went. I noticed as I gained altitude, the my airspeed started decreasing along with the MP. Around 14 k, the airspeed went down to around 66 knots which was getting me about 250 fpm climb, and there was nothing I could do to increase the climb rate. Tried lowering the nose a bit, didn't help, played with the prop adjustment, still nothing improved, changed the flaps from -7 to 0, that made it climb slower. As I got up to around 15,000, now I was climbing at about 50 fpm, and I had a ways to go to get to 16,700 if that is how high the terrain went. At 15, 856 feet, climb rate was zero, and airspeed was 64 knots, and I had a 34 knot headwind. Hmmmm.. Oh well, now I am hoping I can clear the rising terrain ahead, because the only place to land is on the Glacier. Changing anything starts me into a descent. ( this sounds like I am just about at the point where I am almost behind the power curve, or will be very soon)... If I try and turn, I know for sure I will lose altitude in the bank cause I cannot increase the angle of attack at this altitude, and that Glacier looks awfully close. Up ahead to the left I see some heavy dark clouds, and some rocks around the clouds, and I am wondering if there are any "rocks in the clouds"...

 

So I just keep trucking along, not touching anything, and aim for the lowest area of terrain I can see.

 

Still Climbing with about another 10 miles to go to the highest point.

 

I finally get to the top of the climb, and can see over the edge and down into the lower terrain in front of me, with these dark clouds on either side, and all of a sudden, the nose pitches up about 30 degrees, and I am climbing at 1,000 fpm, :help: then I am descending at the same rate, and rolling from side to side at 45 degrees each way. How do you say "severe turbulence ". I went from nose up 30 deg, to nose down the same amount, and at the same time rolling from right to left just as badly, 45 degs each way. This went on for miles, with a lull here and there, all the way down the side of this mountain. It didn't subside, until I was down to about 1000 feet and 5 miles from the airport, and even the approach to Cordova was bumpy. When I finally touched down, I was exhausted. I then remembered that I had set the flying conditions for weather at T -storms this morning, and that may be what caused the turbulence, or maybe just the mountain down draft turbulence itself. If that mountain , where I passed though had risen over 16,000 feet, I would have had to land up there, cause there was no way the Maule was going to go any higher, and I could not make a U turn.

 

Fun Trip......

 

sounds like you got caught in the famous turbulence that plagues the downwind side of mountains. Best thing to do is try to get out of the downwind side before you suddenly find yourself experiencing a high-speed lithobraking event... or just avoid the downwind side altogether