Landing at a grass strip in a bowl with a dog leg

Come along with CFI Alyssa Cobb to a farm strip in the West Virginia backcountry to learn some beginner backcountry flying tips.

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[georgerothfuss]

I watch a lot of the AOPA this week and love the work you do. It is particularly of interest when you interview people I know. One of the interesting people got his first airplane ride from my Dad in a Porterfield taildragger.( 3NP Maule Field in Napolean Michigan) keep up the good work.

[chrism]

Good job! I fly an Aviat Husky A1B, and when I first bought it, I too took some backcountry flying instruction at McCall Mountain Canyon Flying. Excellent training and I highly recommend it to anyone who wishes to learn to fly more precisely in tough areas. I enjoy landing on non-paved runways and areas. It can be done very safely with the right training, practice and equipment.

[georgerothfuss]

great Mountian flying or backcountry show, love the approach nd landing shots

[АнатолийРедин-уз]

Great video. Alice is smart and well done! I especially liked the last shots, because I've been there. God bless her!

[gregsmith]

Thank you for this video! It is cool to see how you set up for that dog-leg runway in the bowl that is home! Fun to watch you fly and learning is the best for us pilots!

[johnconnor]

One of the best videos I've seen from AOPA! Even if I wasn't a grass field loving C-170 pilot, the production quality and infotainment were top notch.

[uesleifaria]

Gongratulations. Very very beatifull fly.

[douglasschafer]

AAhh the difference between the competent pilot and the same person as a talking head. Thanks, enjoyable, loved it

[markthibault]

Very informative video. I like the commitment to precision and the go/no-go decision points. And, that's a very lovely place to fly.

[mikercflyer]

I enjoyed your video, keep doing more of them.

[Andrew-ib]

Nice video, Alyssa. I took McCall Mountain Canyon Flying Seminar's one week course in 2012 in Lori's Super Cub and then a refresher version in my Maule MX-7-180 in 2016. They were excellent training for mountain canyon flying and back country airstrip operations. I brought the techniques back home to the mountains of Western North Carolina. You dad's airstrip looks like Shiflet Field (9A9) where I was based for 5 years except for the dogleg. One of the aspects of back country flying is a steep approach at lower airspeed. There are usually trees to avoid on final approach. A higher, slower final makes more of the runway available to you on touchdown. I have a friend with a 1, 500 foot grass airstrip on his farm where I land often. The 30-foot wide runway has a slight downward slope to the south with tall trees at both ends. A steep, slow approach is a necessity. McCall Mountain Canyon Flying Seminars helped me get to know my airplane's stall characteristics better at all flap settings.That built confidence that lets me fly at slower airspeed. With full 48 degrees flaps and vortex generators, my Maule stalls at about 35 mph so I feel confident coming in at 55 mph on final with 48 degrees flaps.

[lladventures]

Great Video, looking forward to the coming videos. I’m a new to me 170 owner. This is the type of flying I want to do. Thanks for sharing.

[stubby]

Thanks for sharing. I recently had the opportunity to operate off of a 1500' grass strip. It was a learning experience to say the least. Were not far from McCall and the class sounds interesting. Thanks again.

[hillcrestannie]

Great Video ! I have a 170a . See you at Airventure

[stephenalexander]

On a windy day, I’d be out on this one!

[hillcrestannie]

It would be great if you done more videos like this . Really enjoyed it.

[jimmydulin]

Very nicely done and some good backcountry flying tips. Your mountains are actually more dangerous in some ways. There are similar horizontal space limitations as with the Rockies, but generally less vertical space available. The canyons are not as deep. If you get a chance to work with an instructor on the energy management 1 g turn of any bank angle, that can be as useful in mountain flying as in crop dusting. It is safer due to fully exploiting all energy available-engine, zoom reserve airspeed, and potential energy of altitude.

Another technique that might be useful to you there is the apparent brisk walk rate of closure (power/pitch) approach over the ridge on short final. It would give you a steeper glide angle, with full flaps and pitch deceleration until sink begins bringing throttle into dynamic (exact) glide angle and rate of descent control. This would allow touchdown much closer to the beginning of the runway and eliminate the worry about getting down before the dog leg. This approach, which can be practiced at a normal airport, uses the apparent rate of closure with some identifiable spot early in the landing area or the numbers exactly like we decelerate coming into an intersection with out autos. The stop sign from way back appears to close at a brisk walk regardless of ground speed. As we get closer we get really uncomfortable with excess ground speed and decelerate to maintain what appears to be a brisk walk. No this will not cause stall. As you are coming into high ground effect, the spot is going under the cowl requiring you to look on down the runway. It just made the deceleration easy to judge and stabilized. Yes airspeed will decrease, but you can't land at Vso in ground effect anyway. Vso is an out of ground effect number.

Again, very nicely done. Ignore what I have mentioned if it sounds crazy, but it really makes all flying and not just mountain flying easier. My zero time perspective Ag students all soloed in less than ten hours using the apparent rate of closure approach, which eliminates the need to round out. All three landings were always on the numbers slowly and softly.

[pilot]

Is that a "one way" strip? Take off in one direction and land in the other due to terrain? Nice video with a lot of good commentary about the ADM.

[mikeryan]

Back Country has always appealed to me but having only flown in Florida I find it a little intimidating. Look forward to the rest of the series. Will you cover how to know where you can land legally?

[leelafarlett]

looked like she was close to the tree tops on final, actually even with one or two. May have been the camera .