How do you determine a safe altitude between 2 points?

[xender 459]

Hi guys!

Is there a way to determine what is the safe altitude to fly between two points? Look at this image:

I know that in this quadrant of the map, to be completely safe of crashing and killing everyone onboard i will need to fly at least at 11,100 feet. But, if my route is that green line then that's overkill since i wont be traveling over that mountain on the southwest of the quadrant! so, how do i know what is a safe altitude to traverse that green path without climbing to 11,100?

[kakihara123 144]

Load the FP in Little Nav map. Has an minimum safe altitude map at the bottom.

[leprechaunlive 1,852]

if you want to do it the "proper" way, you would need a map that a lot more detailed.

[xender 459]

3 minutes ago, leprechaunlive said:

if you want to do it the "proper" way, you would need a map that a lot more detailed.

I do want to do it the proper way. Do you know any resource online that has such maps?

 

6 minutes ago, kakihara123 said:

Load the FP in Little Nav map. Has an minimum safe altitude map at the bottom.

I want to use Little Navmap but i find its interface really daunting. I end going back to skyvector every time.

[ark 1,290]

 

24 minutes ago, xender said:

Hi guys!

Is there a way to determine what is the safe altitude to fly between two points? Look at this image:

I know that in this quadrant of the map, to be completely safe of crashing and killing everyone onboard i will need to fly at least at 11,100 feet. But, if my route is that green line then that's overkill since i wont be traveling over that mountain on the southwest of the quadrant! so, how do i know what is a safe altitude to traverse that green path without climbing to 11,100?

If you are on a published airway, an IFR map will have a MOCA (Minimum Obstruction Clearance Altitude) and or MEA (Minimum Enroute Altitude) printed along the airway segment. The MOCA with be preceded  with an *.  The MOCA only guarantees radio reception within 22 NM of a VOR, while the MEA guarantees radio reception along the complete route segment.  Both provide a safe altitude. So one answer to your question would be to look at an IFR map even if flying VFR on an airway.

Then of course, if VFR you can just look out the window and maintain a safe altitude.

Al

Edited March 12, 2021 by ark

[Will Fly For Cheese 1,710]

Just dive in to Little NavMap - it's a steep learning curve that gets shallower and shallower as you go forward. You'll learn a whole bunch of stuff about Airspaces, Approaches, ATC Procs, etc.

Alex (the Dev) is excellent with providing Help Documentation and he's always lurking on the Avsim Support Forum.

Wait for a wet Sunday afternoon and go for it.

https://www.avsim.com/forums/forum/780-little-navmap-little-navconnect-little-logbook-support-forum/

Online Help here; https://www.littlenavmap.org/manuals/littlenavmap/release/2.6/en/

It will transform your flying.

[xender 459]

2 minutes ago, Will Fly For Cheese said:

Just dive in to Little NavMap - it's a steep learning curve that gets shallower and shallower as you go forward. You'll learn a whole bunch of stuff about Airspaces, Approaches, ATC Procs, etc.

Alex (the Dev) is excellent with providing Help Documentation and he's always lurking on the Avsim Support Forum.

Wait for a wet Sunday afternoon and go for it.

https://www.avsim.com/forums/forum/780-little-navmap-little-navconnect-little-logbook-support-forum/

Online Help here; https://www.littlenavmap.org/manuals/littlenavmap/release/2.6/en/

It will transform your flying.

Looks like i will need to. I will dedicate an afternoon to it and see how much of the program i can learn in a few hours. thanks!

[Will Fly For Cheese 1,710]

Just download it and then open that Online Help Manual to the side and follow it through as you Flight Plan.

You'll be Champ of procedural VFR and IFR in no time. Then, Vatsim!

See you up there 🙂

 

[kakihara123 144]

20 minutes ago, xender said:

I do want to do it the proper way. Do you know any resource online that has such maps?

 

I want to use Little Navmap but i find its interface really daunting. I end going back to skyvector every time.

LNM is better if you don't only fly in the US. Yeah the UI i clunky but importing a FP is easy and takes just a few seconds and then the elevation profile is diplayed automatically at the button with a red line you should not go under.

[Flyfaster_MTN002 412]

59 minutes ago, xender said:

Hi guys!

Is there a way to determine what is the safe altitude to fly between two points? Look at this image:

I know that in this quadrant of the map, to be completely safe of crashing and killing everyone onboard i will need to fly at least at 11,100 feet. But, if my route is that green line then that's overkill since i wont be traveling over that mountain on the southwest of the quadrant! so, how do i know what is a safe altitude to traverse that green path without climbing to 11,100?

You can never have too much altitude, airspeed, or fuel 🙂

Generally you plan for best winds. Bear in mind you want to cross the highest point (roughly 1 mile on either side of that line) at least 1,000ft above your first strike point. In mountainous terrain that would go up to 3000ft depending on weather, aircraft, etc.

[MatthewS 761]

Little Nav Map is great!  Love the ability to see STARS/SIDS on the map... makes it very easy to find the correct procedure.

[fppilot 4,371]

2 hours ago, xender said:

Is there a way to determine what is the safe altitude to fly between two points? Look at this image:

With the Reality XP GNS or GTN series, utilizing the respective Garmin Trainers, you can select minimum enroute altitude as a field to display on the map screen.  Been there for years...  Just saying.....  I know what forum I am in.

Edited March 12, 2021 by fppilot

[marsman2020 1,310]

I usually use LittleNavMap for this for my longer flights.

It's pretty user friendly to put in a origin and destination, calculate a route of the type you want, and then take a look at the elevation map.

The LNM manual is well written and explains most thing very clearly.

There is a section in the manual about adding a 3rd party elevation map that is more accurate, I'd recommend doing that.