AOPA Turbine Pilot Magazine - November 2018 - 80

MCCALL MOUNTAIN Canyon Flying Seminar instructors

all wear Spot beacons to be able to signal for help in
case of a mechanical problem or emergency situation
in the remote Idaho backcountry. After three hours of
training, Glodowski gets outs of the Super Cub and
Cobb heads across the mountains solo,
putting her newfound skills to work.

RIDGE CROSSING

Glodowski coaxes me closer and closer
to the side of the mountain, following its
contours. It feels as if I'm just a couple
of wingspans away as I near the ridge I'll
cross. On our first pass, we approach the
ridge at a 45-degree angle and note terrain
on the other side. We are close enough to
get a sense of wind differences, but today
winds are calm. We also note any lone trees
protruding from the ridge that could grab
the tires of the Super Cub. After an initial
pass, I turn away from the ridge wall with
enough space to execute a normal turn, and
circle back to approach again. This time,
we cross the ridge, again at a 45-degree
angle so that we always have a safe option
to abort the crossing. Mountain canyon flying is all about having a safe out.
After crossing a few ridges of pine-covered mountains at 5,500 and 6,000 feet msl,
we set off in search of higher-elevation, jagged, snow-covered peaks. The Garmin aera
660's aural alert "Caution: Terrain, pull
up!" has been manually silenced-with
this kind of flying, the friendly alert would
become a constant nag. Crossing ridges
around the highest peaks in the 7,000-foot
range, my confidence builds and the overwhelming sense of vulnerability fades;
what had seemed to be angry monoliths
ready to pounce on the Super Cub transform into magnificent creations.
at 2,100 rpm) provides a healthy margin
above stall, allows the Super Cub to be
trimmed out and maneuvered easily while
attention is divided, and provides a small
turn radius to reverse course in a canyon.
That's my canyon operating speed and
configuration for the way the Super Cub is
loaded on this day.
Knowing the numbers is the first step.
Now it's time to put them to use. Idaho's
mountains have steep, narrow V- and
U-shaped canyons, MacNichol explains
to her ground school class. Hells Canyon,
which runs along the Oregon-Idaho border just north of McCall, is the deepest
river gorge in North America, according to
80 | AOPA PILOT November 2018

the U.S. Forest Service, and it drops 8,000
feet below Idaho's He Devil Peak. When
flying in the canyons, it is critical to be
able to reverse course in case you inadvertently fly up a box canyon, can't outclimb
terrain, or decide to turn around for any
reason. Because of this, flying on the far
right side of the canyon, near the mountain, in canyon configuration is important
to give you the most space available to
turn around.
The Super Cub has a remarkably small
turn radius at cruise, but it really shines as
we slow to canyon speed/configuration and
turn, setting us up nicely to practice the
emergency canyon turn.

APPROACH, AIM POINT, AND AIRSPEED

The lengths of backcountry and wilderness strips vary, but many of the public-use
strips managed by the state, U.S. Forest
Service, and Bureau of Land Management
have markings to break the runway into
thirds, and fourths when they are really
short. The goal is to always land in the first
segment, MacNichol says.
She advocates steep, stabilized
approaches using a 4- to 4.5-degree
glidepath because obstructions (Idaho's
100-foot tree instead of the FAA's 50-foot
obstacle) might obscure the approach. It
also provides better visibility, increases
pilots' chances of making the airfield in
AOPA Turbine Pilot Magazine - November 2018

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