Colorado Camping Weekend Day 1: Thursday

Welcome to Colorado! We have a great weekend planned for you. Not only will you get to enjoy camping in the Rocky Mountains, but you will also experience some great Mountain Flying. During the next 4 days you will visit 5 airports, including Aspen and Leadville, which is the highest airport in the US. You will also fly over 6 mountain passes. Today is Day 1, Thursday. You will fly from Boulder Colorado to your first overnight camp in the Rocky Mountains. Your flight instructor will help you navigate and handle all the radio communications. But it’s up to you to arrive safely at your destination. You are the Pilot in Command!

Aircraft

• Cessna Skyhawk SP Model 172

Objectives

• Make it over Rollins Pass (11671 ASL)
• Make it over Berthoud Pass (11315 ASL)
• Make it over Loveland Pass (11990 ASL)
• Land safely at Camp Vertical (KVS1)

Flight Planner

Sample Dialog

We’re already at 5,000 feet so the air is much thinner than what you’re used to. This means we need to lean out the engine so that we get maximum performance for take-off. For now, just pull out the mixture about half way and keep it there. Once we get airborne I’ll give you some more tips on leaning the engine.

We get the most power from this engine when the Exhaust Gas is almost at its highest temperature. You can play with the mixture and watch the Exhaust Gas temperature change. What you want to do is pull the mixture back very slowly until you the Exhaust Gas Temperature reaches maximum. Then, push the mixture in just a little bit. This will give you the best performance to help us climb.

The area just ahead is called Winter Park. The city of Denver wanted to promote winter sports and so it started developing a mountain park system. They built Highway 40, which is the highway that you can see up ahead. It goes over the Berthoud Pass and into this valley. When that road was built, this area really took off. Actually, there was a railroad before. It came through a tunnel in the mountain just below us.