The crew always checks the aircraft for all the items that will melt or shed snow and ice. The pitot tube (air intake) for the airspeed indicator must be free from debris and heat up as well, in flight. The stall indicator must also heat up, as well as the jets’ wing leading edges. The King air must have serviceable boots on the leading edge that blow up and shed ice. Sometimes passengers may see this occurring. The pilot’s windshield must also heat up during flight, to keep ice off.

All these items are checked, before any flight, even on dry days, because at altitude, it’s always cold and may be icy if we are in a cloud.

Now on cloudy, snowy days, the crew may load the passengers up and know they will not get to the end of the runway, before the wings and tail become loaded with new snow. Mountain Aviation crews may not depart with any snow or ice adhering to any aircraft surface. In this case, the crew will return to the Fixed Base Operator (FBO) and request a de-ice procedure, just like the large airline aircraft do. The aircraft goes to a de-ice pad, away from the local ramp, shuts down the engines, and with passengers onboard, will receive the de-ice fluid from a truck with a large boom, and dry/ warm driver, and a very wet/ cold spray operator atop the boom.

This fluid is a mixture of Glycol and very hot water that is sprayed under pressure, on the aircraft’s surface, including wings and tail. This process will melt the existing snow and ice and because it is very sticky and greasy looking, and will adhere to the aircraft long enough to be able to taxi to the runway and take off. Once in the air, all the previous items I mentioned having to be operational, take over to keep the aircraft clean of ice and snow.

In all operations, safety is paramount, but winter ice and snow is particularly dangerous for proper aircraft lift and performance. Your crew may delay a departure for just these reasons. We all want to arrive at the destination, safe, sound and happy. Happy winter-time flying all!

On Saturday 4 folks from Mountain Aviation attended the Morgan Adams charity event at TAC air.  The Morgan Adams foundation supports cancer research for children.  The event featured a display of very high end cars and historic aircraft.  There was also a section with newer corporate aircraft.  We were lucky enough to have our Piaggio on display.  The people at the event were some of Denver’s wealthiest and most well connected.  In both hangers they had different restaurants providing the food, multiple tables with all the silent auction items.   The silent auction had many amazing luxury items.  Exotic trips and opportunities to play at some of Colorado’s most exclusive private country clubs.    In the live auctions there were multiple trips in private jets to locations such as Napa and Las Vegas.  One gentleman won a trip to Las Vegas on KPK’s Lear 55 for $7,500.  Other items went for over $10,000.  Overall the evening raised well over one hundred thousand dollars for cancer research.  The evening was a great success and we got to connect with some of Denver’s most well connected and influential people. 

Mr. Hoover is considered by his peers as the “pilot’s pilot” and is most well known as a US Fighter Pilot, Test Pilot, and a master of aerobatics. Bob was in rare form Friday night and shared a variety of stories from his life including his escape from a WWII prison camp by stealing an Fw 190 and flying to safety. He also shared his philosophies on how to be a pilot that is not afraid to think out of the box. Bob’s ability to think on the fly and adapt to situations made him one of the best Aviators to ever live.

More information on Bob Hoovers life & accomplishments; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Hoover

Ah!, summer’s here and the ice has melted from the hangars and runways, and no snow storms are about, unless we fly to Alaska or further north!.

But now you say, oh! but I have to put up with those hot, bumpy flights, all the time in the summer *&#$!.  We pilots also wish it wouldn’t occur as often as it seems to, but we think about them and plan for it way ahead of your trip.  Those bumps may occur early and well before what’ coming next!.  Read on.  This will not alarm but will educate you!

The quick run through on thunderstorms, or convective build-ups, CB’s as we call them, sort of happens like this!. I’m not a meteorologist.

A moist unstable air mass, usually clear air aloft moves slowly eastward and overruns warm areas of our good earth.  As the sun’s rays further warm the earth, the resulting hot air rises and meets this cold, unstable air mass above, and voila!  visible vapor, and great gobs of convective clouds quickly rising to unimaginable heights!  Within this boiling mass, water vapor expands exponentially, but is not yet a rain drop.  That occurs when dust is swept aloft by winds that will then turn this water vapor into rain or, eh gads!, hail (another story).  Anything that is too heavy to stay aloft, will drop out of the sky as rain or hail with mostly damaging effect.  Those lower clouds may also become confused and begin to swirl like our water exiting the bath tub (yes, counter clockwise, if you live in the northern hemisphere).  Now we may see the production of a tornado.  Thankfully, these do not bother us aloft.  

Mountain Aviation pilots have many weather tools at our disposal to project and plan for these thunderstorm areas, to provide a safe and hopefully not too bumpy ride.  On the ground, even before a trip, we plan the most advantageous route around CB areas.  We look for alternate airports should the one you wish to arrive at, is covered by storms.  Before we depart, we will go over all this with you to be certain it meets your time constraints and pre planning.  Once air-borne, all Mountain Aviation aircraft have on board weather radar, to see, in real time, where large thunderstorms abound.  We may need to alter our course to stay at least 20 miles from the dangerous clouds and will advise air traffic control of our intentions to change course.  I have never had a controller not give me any direction I wished, to stay away from CB’s.  Your aircraft may indeed fly through and remain in clouds for some time, as there are wide areas of “safe clouds”, called blow off.  These areas do not pose a threat, as mostly there are no damaging CB’s, but yes, the pesky bumps may remain.  The radar and pilot’s trained interpretation, see us safely around the CB line of weather.  Slowing the aircraft, at times will diminish the bumps to a degree.

Our crew go to considerable length when planning and operating in the summer months, to give you the safest ride possible and, oh yes!, bumps are not, “air pockets”, no such thing!.     

By Chip Taft

We even have a separate SMS department with an SMS manager, me!  So, what the heck is it anyway? As the potential travelling public you SHOULD know this pneumonic and understand the basic principles that we as a company take so seriously.  This is important for you to better ascertain your safety and security on ours or any charter flight.

SMS stands for Safety Management System.  In its’ most basic shell, safety management is the disciplined and systematic approach to controlling risk.  All companies have risk, inherent to its performing a job or service.  An air charter company has an added risk of flight and everything that goes into moving the general public from point to point, by air. 

Generally, the public feels the government, with all its regulations and security requirements have seen to all the risks of flying.  This is not entirely true!  Airlines and charter companies have an equal duty to their passengers by maintaining a safe fleet of aircraft and using only the best, most well trained and safety conscience pilots they may hire and train.  Mountain Aviation utilizes the services of its’ Safety Management department and Safety Committee to regularly audit All aspects of its flight and maintenance operations to look for latent hazards which may increase risk.  These hazards are then mitigated by the various departments and safety committee and the associated risk is resolved or at least lowered to an acceptable level.

Pilots for Mountain Aviation undertake a daily risk assessment before flying any trip.  This assessment reviews destination airport runways, performance criteria, weather at departure and destination, aircraft maintenance and even a review of pilot flight experience to typical locales, such as foreign destinations.  Passenger numbers and amount of baggage is considered for safe operations to and from mountain airports.

So, SMS is a pretty important term for the flying public to understand.  Ask the company that quotes your next charter trip if they have a fully integrated SMS program with a full time Safety Manager.  Then perhaps from reading this short article, remind yourself, “Mountain Aviation has an SMS, I think I’ll call them”

Happy travels!

Chip Taft  

Mountain Aviation, an air charter operator offers a similar but slightly different service. Instead of just shopping for air charter we help you find the best air charter value. Price is always important but as an ARG/US Platinum safety audited air carrier who know that safety and quality have to be primary when looking for charter. Unlike many charter brokers, many of whom have little to no actual aviation experience, Mountain Aviation has a staff of 90 aviation employees focused on quality and safety every day. Using proprietary tools, deep industry knowledge, and a global network of parter air charter operators, Mountain Aviation can deliver more than the least expensive charter option: we deliver the best air charter value. Please call us at +1 303 466 3506 or email *protected email* for a customized charter quote today.

We recently had the opportunity to serve one of our regular clients in arranging for the charter of a VVIP Boeing 767 wide-body airliner charter. This incredible aircraft was the perfect fit for the clients trans-Atlantic flight featuring a beautiful corporate configured interior and one of the best safest and best run flight crews in the business. Under a tight deadline (just 48 hours notice) Mountain Aviation was able to source an aircraft for a North America to Europe trip for a large group of dignitaries. This client knows that with a single call Mountain Aviation can meet their aircraft charter needs anywhere in the world.

Whether you need a Boeing Business Jet in Dubai, a Gulfstream in London, or just a King Air in Colorado call us 24/7/365 and watch us exceed your expectations. *protected email* +1 303 466 3506

Mountain Aviation is proud to announce that we are joining forces with none other then SocialFlights.com! Social Flights is a revolutionary idea that allows a person to charter a private jet for a fraction of the price of what it would normally cost! It simply involves connecting people such as yourselves, and combining flights and cost in order to give you prices close to first class airline seats. It gives you the chance to meet other individuals and business colleges alike, while at the same time flying to your next business meeting without having to deal with all of the hassles of an airport!

As one of the industries leading companies, Mountain Aviation is excited to be apart of something so unique and creative! Now with Social Flights, we will have an even better opportunity to reach out to individuals and businesses alike. Be looking for our fleet and flights to be added to www.socialflights.com in the coming weeks!

When it comes to some of our Mountain Airports here in Colorado, like Aspen and Eagle – high elevation airports surrounded by towering peaks in all quadrants, a balked landing is anything but a routine procedure. Any time when flying into places like this, it takes very careful planning and a thorough performance review in order to ensure that the aircraft is capable of either landing safely on the runway, or executing a balked landing while staying clear of terrain.

Mountain Aviation has routinely operated into these two airports for many years during daylight hours in a number of different airplanes without a single incident. Now, it is a completely different thing to fly into one of these airports in the middle of a dark moonless night, where all you can see are the bright runway lights. What if something happened just as the airplane were ready to touch down, and the crew had to discontinue the approach? Unless specific procedures are created to ensure that this can be done safely, this could potentially be a very challenging and nerve-wracking situation for anybody to find themselves in.

We currently have two airplanes that are approved to operate into Aspen and Eagle at night. For both of these airplanes, we have had a special balked landing procedure developed by the engineering department of a runway analysis company. The special balked landing procedure is unique to each airplane and is based on the performance capability of the particular aircraft. When the procedure is followed, it allows the flight crew to safely and consistently execute a balked landing at the airport for which the procedure is designed, during day or night, and only when having the runway environment in sight. In order to further improve the safety margin, we requested that the balked landing climb performance be based on only one engine operating in flight. In other words, these two airplanes can still climb and maneuver with one engine failed while still clearing the terrain surrounding the airport. It is obviously highly unlikely that we would find ourselves in such a scenario, but during our annual recurrent simulator training our pilots are specifically trained on these unique and challenging procedures.

Written by Dan Hoyberg-Nielsen of Mountain Aviation

“Here at Mountain Aviation, customers and quality are our number one priority” says Don McCarty, a lead technician for Mountain Aviation’s Maintenance shop.

Don grew up in Leadville, CO and attended school at the University of California. After school, Don joined the navy in 1962 where he then attended Navy mechanics school down in Millington, TN. He was able to carry these skills on into Midway Island during the Vietnamese War in 1963 after which he retired from the navy and joined United Airlines as a mechanic.

During this time in his life, Don was able to perfect his skills in the field of aeronautical aviation maintenance, and also grew an interest for the private and corporate aviation industry. After spending over 12 years with United, he decided that he was ready to move on from the commercial world of flying so that he could spend more quality time with his family.

Before coming to Mountain Aviation though, Don was a lead technician at Steven’s Aviation at the Rocky Mountain Metro Airport. Mountain aviation realized how valuable Don’s skills were, and when Don applied for a job at Mountain he was hired on the spot, bringing over 40 years of aviation experience to an already highly experienced aviation maintenance team.

“The People” was Don’s response when asked what he likes most about Mountain aviation. “Getting it done right the first time is what we do best.” proudly stated Don. He plans on staying with Mountain Aviation for the rest of his working career, and hopes to see the company continue to grow while he’s there.

The aviation tradition runs deep in the McCarty household with two sons working in aviation and his wife who’s been a flight attendant with United Airlines for almost 41 years.

Mountain Aviation is proud to have a team comprised of individuals like Don, with diverse backgrounds, deep experience, and a commitment to our clients and co-workers safety and success.