I will be Denver, CO on business this spring and thought that this would be a great opportunity to do something new like a mountain flying course. There are several flight schools in the greater Denver area that offer mountain flying training - does anyone have any experience with any of them?
For example, Journeys Aviation on the field at BJC (Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport, formerly Jefferson County) looks like a decent outfit with a mountain flying checkout curriculum (including the obligatory landing at Leadville, CO). Based on what I've seen on the web, I am leaning toward this group, but was hoping that some POS members had experience with this outfit or one of their competitors to share.
I think Sparky lives in the area and he would be the fellow to teach you mountain flying, he was here in NM teaching a course so I took the ground school but not any airwork, I freind of mine went flying with him and he had him flying 50ft away from the mountain in slow flight so he could make the turn in the canyon.
Terrific website. As a former CNY'er I really enjoy the scenic tour. I did most of my PP training at KROC. I also go out to Denver frequently and would be interested in your experiences with 'mountain school', something I've been wanting to do (as well as getting a glider rating out there.)
This weekend I was at Erie Muni (KEIK), Erie, Colorado EIK which just north of Denver near Boulder/Broomfield. Nice municipal airport surrounded by a fly-in community. Vector Air is on the field with airplanes and instructors. You might give them a try.
I did, but sorry I don't recall their names and I am not at my office. I was there for a Grace Flight of America (Charity Flying) Fly-in/Drive-in. My first time there. The FBO is nice, the flight line is big and has quite a few planes on tie-down. There are T-hangers and because it is also a fly-in community, there are hangers attached to homes. The Vector owners donated their maint. hanger for our meet/greet/eat session in the afternoon and also participated. I had a chance to meet the front office staff and one or two of their instructors. They were outgoing, personable and talked about their mountain flying and checkouts.
I don't have any actual experience with them other than this. But it certainly was a pleasant experience.
Thanks for the extra comments. I checked out Vector's website and was surprised not to find mention of mountain check outs there, especially compared to their neighbors at JeffCo who make a big point of advertising their mountain flying curriculum. I'll have to give Vector a call. Thanks for the info.
Well, I went and did it. I spent time with an instructor from Journeys Aviation while visiting Denver last week. Overall, it was a terrific experience. I had taken the AOPA mountain flying course and read Sparky Imeson's book, but neither compares to interactive learning with a knowledgeable instructor.
I chose Journeys for one primary reason: they had an Archer to rent so that I could do the training in something familiar to me. I did call some of the other places recommended here, but none of them really worked out.
We did some ground training on the first morning and spent 7 hours over two mornings back in the Rockies. We landed at a handful of airports, including Leadville, CO.
Pictures and a few more details are available on my website:
[www.ncemsf.org]
