Mountain Flying

In conjunction with the bush course or separate from it, we highly recommend the mountain course if you intend to fly much in Alaska or other mountainous regions. Unfortunately, the mountains are a major contributor to our accident rate here in Alaska. They demand special skills and training to become familiar with the forces and illusions that trap unwary aviators.

Traditional training virtually avoids the issues by climbing high or avoiding mountains all together. In Alaska, we can't out climb most of the mountain ranges and we have to learn to live in the rocks. We must plan for decreased aircraft performance and extreme up and downdrafts. We must become familiar with the optical illusions that have lured others into inescapable positions. We must learn how to negotiate saddles and cross ridges always anticipating the downdrafts that might be present. If the basic bush course has been completed, we now introduce high altitude landings on steep one way strips, ridges and even glaciers. Many mountain strips must be carefully evaluated prior to attempting a landing and must be flawlessly flown for many have no go around option.

Additionally, the mountain locations make operating with 2 Cubs prudent so we introduce basic formation management and maneuvering during the mountain flying course. All touring is done with at least 2 Cubs so all pilots need to know and practice formation flying as both leader and wingman.