I'd like to fly my Cessna 182 into some USFS strips (no gravel bars or such) in the northern Rockies like Fish Lake and Meadow Creek. Being a flatland flyer, I want training ahead of time. I've looked at the Colorado Plots Association Mountain Flying seminar and it has good information on mountain weather and flying passes, but appears to be focused on high altitude airports, rather than backcountry strips. The Mountain Canyon school in McCall, ID looks very good, but I'm wondering if the 2 day or the 4 day seminar would be appropriate for me.

Any recommendations or suggestions or other good seminars out there besides those I've mentioned?

Thanks!

Terry

wltrmtty wrote:I'd like to fly my Cessna 182 into some USFS strips (no gravel bars or such) in the northern Rockies like Fish Lake and Meadow Creek. Being a flatland flyer, I want training ahead of time. I've looked at the Colorado Plots Association Mountain Flying seminar and it has good information on mountain weather and flying passes, but appears to be focused on high altitude airports, rather than backcountry strips. The Mountain Canyon school in McCall, ID looks very good, but I'm wondering if the 2 day or the 4 day seminar would be appropriate for me.

Any recommendations or suggestions or other good seminars out there besides those I've mentioned?

Patrick Romano.

If your interest are mainly Idaho, maybe get an instructor up there and learn and get familiar with those strips at the same time??
I did the McCall schooling and have always been glad I did.

If you are looking at strips in Montana (you mentioned Meadow Creek) I'd just get an instructor out of Kalispell (or Helena or Missoula) and go hit Meadow Creek, Schafer Meadows and Spotted Bear.

Thanks for the suggestions. I hadn't thought of an instructor in Kalispell and I see there are a few. I also see several mountain flying books out there. Any favorites?

I recommend Doug Lumgair in N California. Click below and read my book to see if you would be interested in what we teach. Also Patrick Romero is running mountain flying clinics.

Being a instructor in a mountainous state does not, in any way, make a person qualified to instruct on backcountry flying.

I've got pictures of an upside down airplane flown by a mountainous state instructor/charter pilot who used all the FAA taught and approved techniques. When he told me what he thought had happened, it was obvious he didn't have a clue why his airplane crashed. Nice guy...lots of flight time, cautious attitude, reasonable airstrip...just didn't have the right sort of knowledge and skill for backcountry flying. I can only hope that prior to loosing his airplane he didn't teach anyone else the techniques that failed him.

I've never been to one of Lori's classes, but if you want to fly backcountry, go to a backcountry flight school. Might as well do four days if you're already there. At the very least hire a CFI who specializes in backcountry instruction, not someone who happens to live in proximity to some backcountry airstrips.

Airstrips like Fish Lake and Schafer Meadows have surprisingly high incident rates, many of them fatal. People look how long and wide they are and figure that makes them safer, with no consideration for just why it is that they have to be that long. VERY easy to find yourself chopping wood with your propeller and wondering what went wrong.

I agree with Hammer's post.

Does Aktahoe have his CFI yet? Does MTV still instruct?

Some good info/names in this thread:

https://www.backcountrypilot.org/forum/ ... 56#p269256

There was another thread that listed more local guys to to the area that gave checkouts, for some reason I can't find it.

When I fly to Idaho from Texas, I always stop in Afton. I've been told by several people that the guy that gives check outs at the Husky factory is a good one to teach you the ropes. MTV had his name at one time, but if you call the factory or FBO there I'm sure you can run him down.

I'd also call Arnold aviation in Cascade. I always start with the guys that do it for a living. Good info on the Cascade page:

http://www.cascadeairport.com/services/

Lastly, I'd echo what many have said here...especially Hammer. I learned to fly at high DA in New Mexico. I was more proficient than most in that respect....but it's not the same as mountain flying. I took the advice to go the first time with experienced pilots and was glad I did. As straightforward as Johnson creek looks on YouTube, flying in a canyon is still a whole different deal.

wltrmtty wrote:I'd like to fly my Cessna 182 into some USFS strips (no gravel bars or such) in the northern Rockies like Fish Lake and Meadow Creek. Being a flatland flyer, I want training ahead of time. I've looked at the Colorado Plots Association Mountain Flying seminar and it has good information on mountain weather and flying passes, but appears to be focused on high altitude airports, rather than backcountry strips. The Mountain Canyon school in McCall, ID looks very good, but I'm wondering if the 2 day or the 4 day seminar would be appropriate for me.

Any recommendations or suggestions or other good seminars out there besides those I've mentioned?

Thanks!

Terry

If you were to take both the CPA seminar and do the optional flying with one of CPA's mountain instructors, you'd get some superb training in both high elevation flying and back country flying. These folks do know what they're doing. My regular CFII who does my IPCs and BFRs is one of them, and I know personally several others of them. The last I heard, there will be 2 sessions again in 2017, as there were in 2016, in June and in August.

Cary

Lori MacNichol...mccall, id

Hammer wrote:Being a instructor in a mountainous state does not, in any way, make a person qualified to instruct on backcountry flying.

Right, I thought that kind of went without saying, but completely agree...probably should have elaborated. In the case of Kalispell check out Red Eagle Aviation. They fly rafters into Schafer quite a bit.

All excellent information. Thank you. I appreciate you taking the time to help me out. I really look forward to flying into some of those beautiful mountain strips, but I'd rather it wasn't announced on the evening news or in a thread on this forum under the heading, "What was that dummy thinking?!?" Safe is fun. BTW, Hammer suggested Galen Hanselman's Fly Idaho!: A Guide to Adventure in the Idaho Backcountry. I checked Amazon and it was listed for $200+. I bought it at abebooks.com for $9.34.

Thanks, again.

Terry

There are 3 editions of the Fly Idaho: Normally avail. around $50 new from most aviation sources.
There are "packages" of multiple items from Q.E.I. the publishers which obviously cost more.

No idea what Amazon sellers think they are doing. One is a signed dedication copy.
Some state "out of print" and may think that there are no replacement editions - STRANGE

Hope you enjoy the history sections - it can get addictive.

++ a bunch on Hammers' advice
If you are serious about Fish Lake I would take the 4 day class.
They work you up the ladder of difficulty at your comfort level.
Maybe stop at Moose Crick for a break on the way - Just a short hop from there.

Chris C

Dave Shallow
+1 (208) 756-7417
dshallow AT gmail DOT com

Flys out of Salmon ID (KSMN). Outstanding Idaho backcountry instructor.

wannabe wrote:If you are serious about Fish Lake I would take the 4 day class.
They work you up the ladder of difficulty at your comfort level.
Maybe stop at Moose Crick for a break on the way - Just a short hop from there.

Chris C

No, not that anxious to fly into somewhere I don't belong (right now). Fish Lake was just a ;what if' from an uneducated guy. Any one of them would be beautiful, so I can start slow. My wife and I visited Glacier National Park a few years ago and it was, hands down, the most beautiful place I've ever been. I can't imagine what the area will be like from the air and camping by my plane. I might even get the fly fishing equipment out off the storage rack.

contactflying wrote:Does Aktahoe have his CFI yet? Does MTV still instruct?

In 12 days!!

AKT

I also see several mountain flying books out there. Any favorites?

Get Sparky Imeson's Mountain Flying Guide. Mike

In Kalispell, Bill Werner, Perry Brown, or Dave Hoerner. All been there and doing back country work at the strips around for many years. All good guys!

If you do get to Kalispell, holler....we're about 25 miles away...be glad to buy you a cup of coffee!
John