Low-time Pilot Flying Telluride to Aspen VFR in a Cirrus SR22T

Mountain flying is not to be taken lightly. In this episode, witness a low-time pilot (me) with only 350 hours of experience navigate from two of the most dangerous airports in the United States.
We had a decent amount of mountain flying experience, but we need formal training in the mountains, which we have setup for August 2024. Fly with us around and through the mountains as we navigate our way with our two precious poodles Pip and Baxter by VFR - Visual Flight Rules. At the time of this video, I was a couple months away from receiving my Instrument Rating.
Both Aspen and Telluride are gorgeous cities that have become like home to us over the last 5 years. In this video you will see a quick recap of some of our favorite restaurants and a visit to our favorite Artist's gallery - Guadaloupe Laiz. Links to notable places to visit below:
Sant Ambroeus - www.santambroeus.com/pages/lo...
Bear Den Aspen - beardenaspen.com
Guadalupe Liaz - guadalupelaiz.com
Viceroy Snowmass - www.viceroyhotelsandresorts.c...
Poodle Oxygen Hoods - www.4pawsaviation.com

[@chrisquaintance4905]

Nice video! Side note, as a fellow SR22T driver: it’s a lot safer to get that seatbelt buckle much lower across your lap. In case of some sort of incident, you could slide under and out of the belt and/or decrease effectiveness of the seatbelt airbags. Mine rides up sometimes, too - I find I have to sit up straight, scoot back in the chair, pull the buckle as low as possible, and tighten the waist straps. Happy flying!!

[@Elivate.]

Totally. Good point. We’ve been trying to do that / more cognizant about it over the last year or so. You should see an improvement in the coming content.

[@KutWrite]

Yes, that's called "submarining." Race drivers have extra straps near their crotches to prevent that at their speeds and - er - unusual attitudes.

[@BaxterretxaB]

This is why a 5 point harness is a better option. That middle waist strap stops this. I have the same issue in one of the GA airplanes I fly but the jet I fly has 5 point and it’s more comfortable.

[@dragracin247]

@@KutWriteI have a bad attitude and I call it a crotch strap in my race car.

[@zacharynorman397]

Hey, thanks again for a great video! I really enjoy them for the flying first and foremost, but appreciate the look into other cities, and the tour around too. In other news, I just yesterday got to fly a G7 SR22 for the first time. Wow, amazing. But going to take some getting used to.

[@Elivate.]

Nice! I fly a G7 SR20 in three weeks, pumped for the G2000!

[@safetycheckoops]

Brother, love your videos! Keep them coming.

[@Elivate.]

Thank you. Will try!

[@johnmcevoy4002]

I got to give you credit you have some big ones to attempt that landing at your level of flying. Aspen is a very difficult approach and landing as well as takeoff because of the canyon affect.

[@Elivate.]

Ha! Thank you, they are respectable in size 😆. Next month I get formal mountain training with Stephen at “Fly the Rockies”. So moving forward hopefully I’ll be better prepared.

[@dcgivx]

I am a Cirrus pilot who has never landed above 6,500 field elevation. Telluride to Aspen looks epic, hope to try it myself someday. Great vid!

[@Elivate.]

Maybe try Buena Vista or Salida first, then take a mountain flying course from someone like Stephan from Fly the Rockies. That way you can avoid the risks we took before formal training. Mountain flying is gorgeous, definitely pursue it!

[@skycop56]

Beautiful flight. The mountains can be deadly so be really careful. The crackling you hear when tuned to weak stations is most likely a leaky ignition harness. As the insulation gets older it will often allow some of the high voltage from the magneto to escape through cracks, etc. and the arcing causes interference. A new harness will fix the problem. Worked for my RV6.

[@RusscanFLY]

Man that density altitude was nuts! My heart started beating fast, just listening to the ATIS! Anyway, nice flying out in the west. I haven’t done that yet, and definitely a different animal for sure. Take care, and fly well!

[@Elivate.]

Right!? Thanks for the comment and channel support. If you make it out there, you will not regret it. Enjoy!

[@jackterry7664]

Try Leadville, Colo. higher yet, and Really hard in a 172.

[@Elivate.]

Heading there for mountain training end of August

[@jmead6121]

Awesome Flights & Adventure with yall Thanks for the Ride really enjoyed ..not an Pilot here but Flown a lot ....

[@Elivate.]

Thank you for the feedback and supporting the channel! Love having people like you on the channel.

[@jmead6121]

@@Elivate. Thanks ...& Cant Wait till y'all s next one ....Safe Travels !!!

[@yurimoros]

Love it

[@krporsch]

Nice video. Landed at both airports during my mountain training last year. One thing to note is the POH says full flaps for all landings including crosswinds. 30 degree crosswind with 5 kt gust is no big deal in a cirrus with full flaps.

[@Elivate.]

Yah normally I land flaps 100. But from some previous experiences in the mountains I’ve found cross winds and gusts are a little easier to overcome with flaps 50. Landing flaps 50 is easy once you get used to it. This one I could have gone either way in hindsight. Check out our almost crashed in telluride video and you will see why I was a little gun shy of flaps 100 in the mountains with the crosswind and up/down drafts only 10ft above the runway. But this one was so minor you could land either flap config easily.

[@jimmydulin928]

We old instructors still call non-tower airports uncontrolled airports. Pilot controlled is very deceptive and your comment pretty much points out the problem. The FAR effort to make is as safe as possible is "See and Avoid." Assuming air traffic control where there is no ground control is dangerous. A major consideration in the mountains, it should be everywhere but is not, is total energy management. Fuel energy is considerable in your Cirrus, but is not finite and is not total energy. Teaching in the 85 hp C-140 at Monte Vista, a bit over 7611 MSL, level in low ground effect energy to cruise airspeed was at least 50% of my total energy available. I expect your Cirrus is not carburetor fueled, but in a C-172 we get at least 300 more rpm by leaning to max rpm before takeoff. Down drainage egress, as is 27 departure at Telluride is provides critical potential energy of altitude when we need it most. In most small trainer airplanes, most of mountain flying is maneuvering flight, where horizontal space available may be less than vertical space available. Staying near one ridge, hopefully the ridge downwind of the valley for updraft rather than downdraft, gives us more horizontal space available for turnback down valley as is your base to final at Aspen. At high DA it is more critical to allow the safety of dynamic neutral stability (what Wolfgang means by what the airplane wants to do) work as designed in turns...all turns. What does the airplane want to do in turns...all turns? It wants to get its nose down to stay at trimmed airspeed and not stall. Very nice dynamic proactive elevator movement on landing. Hopefully the same dynamic proactive rudder movement (no aileron) as well. I couldn't see the centerline but saw no lateral stick (aileron) movement. Good job. Did you fly tailwheel airplanes?

[@Elivate.]

Based off your wealth of knowledge, I assume you are a very experienced pilot. Thank you for sharing some of that experience. I do not have any tailwheel experience. I am hoping to get my tailwheel endorsement this winter.

[@jackterry7664]

Dido on the uncontrolled airport. But Aspen is controlled. Not Telluride.

[@johnnunez17]

Sporty, but nice work for the first time in there👍🏻✈️😎

[@Elivate.]

Thank you for the support!

[@jeanfrancois7344]

Nice video! all credit to your wife, she had the situation under control. You can see that as soon as you landed that plane.

[@Elivate.]

Poor thing I think I almost made her pass out.

[@RA-pv8br]

Love your videos! My wife and I recently did two full ski seasons in Telluride (100 days on the mountain each season!) and fell in love with living in the town... It's one of the most magical places we've been in the US, and we've been all over the country. We also have both been flying a bunch and are down to just our checkride for our PPL for both of us... Would be awesome to connect with you guys some time!

[@Elivate.]

100 days in Telluride, that is like living all season in Paradise! Congrats on being able to do that. Lyneé and I are working towards hopefully being able to do that someday. Your PPL will change your lives, looking forward to hearing from you about it and maybe connecting in person someday. An early congratulations on your next chapter in life!

[@RA-pv8br]

@@Elivate. Yes!!! Thank you! Cheering you guys on!

[@dasaniman1]

Curious what was your performance chart with a density attitude of 11,000+ Must have a lot more performance than my Hawker 800 used to have were limited to limit over 9000 feet’ FYI It’s called a non controlled airport.. Pilots don’t control airspace, they do communicate with other pilots in the area though.

[@Elivate.]

I will have to look to know exactly. It does well in high density and heat- better than I thought it would. It does have Gami’s, fine wires, Surefly, and she’s dialed in by Jim Barker so it performs just about as good as it possibly could given the hardware. Good point. Pilot Controlled Airport is a slang term. Uncontrolled or non-towered airport is the term I should have used on KZbin.

[@Elivate.]

I have the performance charts handy but it looks like KZbin does now allow pictures in comments? This is the first time I’m trying it.

[@igclapp]

​@@Elivate.You probably know this, but always refer to the performance charts and don't rely on density altitude for aircraft performance in a turbocharged or turbine aircraft. Temperature and pressure altitude have separate effects on these types of engines. For example, a turbo engine performs better at 10,000 feet and zero degrees C compared to 6,000 feet and 40 degrees C even though the density altitude in both cases is about 10,000 feet. Safe travels!

[@KutWrite]

Interesting. I felt the pressure you and your lady's faces were showing. For similar reasons, I had a slightly more tense flight out of Catalina Island. Just wrote a short story about it. Cute O2 rigs your dogs wear. Do you have a video with your history, what you do for a living, etc?

[@Elivate.]

Oxygen hoods. During departure from Telluride we show them and explain it. Check it out. You will see the hoods link in the video description.

[@Elivate.]

Yah we were pretty stressed there at pattern and touch down. What type of aircraft are you flying? No we don’t have a video about us, but we will have videos coming that get into it a little more gradually.

[@KutWrite]

@@Elivate. I hope so. It's a good human-interest hook. I'm always curious about others' levels of success. I no longer fly due to the FAA Medicine's AI "no" machine. Really. But for the cost of overriding it and getting to a human reviewer, I'd still be flying. I was a single-engine and helicopter commercial pilot... as a side-hustle only, until 2004.

[@KutWrite]

BTW... Whatever you two are doing to stay in shape, keep it up! You could be models or in show biz!

[@Elivate.]

I'm sorry to hear. Maybe take out your aviation interest on simulators. Tons of fun and way less fuel 🤓

[@monkeysmamma]

I love your poodles! How long did it take them to get used to the oxygen hoods?

[@Elivate.]

Not too long. The headbands help keep them calm. They don’t love when we need to put the hoods on them, but once they are on, they don’t seem to care and snuggle up together.

[@KutWrite]

@@Elivate. Kind of a nice touch that you bring them along. With those hoods, is there a way for them to get water in flight? I'd guess the O2 dries them out.

[@jackterry7664]

Unusual approach, most do a straight in from the North.

[@Elivate.]

Yup typically you land 15 and take off 33 there. The winds that day were 360 @ 12-17kts so it made sense for planes that could navigate the 33 downwind to land 33. Big jets would still land 15.

[@SMcda]

Great video, what time are you departing? I have hundreds of hours in the rockies and our rule of thumb is to be done flying by 10:30. be landed by then, take off early early

[@Elivate.]

Good call. We’ve landed as late as 12:30pm and it definitely is best before 11am. These two flights were around mid to late morning.

[@SMcda]

@Elivate. yeh I would be getting off by 8am, less traffic, lower DA, less wind, less thermals, less mtn wave etc. Be over the valley and out of the mts by 9:30

[@mikesaenz4077]

What’s the metal part on the headset?

[@Elivate.]

They are Mountain high oxygen cannula boom mounts.

[@mukuld50]

I think you maybe have forgotten to take the CAPS pin out 😅. Thanks for posting these videos, they are fun to watch!

[@Elivate.]

Pin is out, and it’s in the checklist. But we leave the cover on as a personal safety switch.

[@mukuld50]

@@Elivate. not trying to argue in any way, I am genuinely curious - what do you mean by personal safety switch? Easier to read the checklist on the cover? I personally do like to see the red handle poking out with the cover shifted down on the bottom two velcros! On a different note - my wife is trying to convince me that we need to fly with our 80 lb Labrador puppy in our SR22T… this channel is great for me to build up confidence that we can maybe find a way! Looking forward to more videos!

[@Elivate.]

In the event of a CAPS pull, I want that extra 1/2 second action to confirm I’m pulling under the right mindset - like a safety on a gun. Not all dogs fly the same, but I would say maybe try the calming and noise reducing headbands (Amazon) and a large dog hood from 4pawsaviation.com. They work great on our dogs so maybe it will for your pooch as well!

[@mikesaenz4077]

You should have the CAPS placard off so you can use it, no?

[@Elivate.]

Cirrus recommends the mixture being cutoff first, then the placard removed and caps pulled. They recommend the caps safety pin being removed during the entire flight, so we always fly with the pin removed. The caps cover is like a safety on a gun. Gives your brain a 1/2 second to solidify your decision.

[@dasaniman1]

Curious what was your performance chart with a density attitude of 11,000+ Must have a lot more performance than my Hawker 800 used to have were limited to limit over 9000 feet’

[@KutWrite]

As a former airline dispatcher (flight planner), I wondered about the DenAlt runway and climb charts, too, esp. when he said "We should be able to... "

[@igclapp]

I would avoid focusing on the term density altitude when discussing turbocharged or turbine powered aircraft. Temperature and pressure altitude have separate effects on these types of engines. For example, a turbo engine performs better at 10,000 feet and zero degrees C compared to 6,000 feet and 40 degrees C even though the density altitude in both cases is about 10,000 feet. Always refer to the performance charts in the manual.

[@KutWrite]

@@igclapp Yes, but density altitude still affects the wing's ability to generate lift. It also affects a propeller's efficiency. Even a turbocharged or turbine powered helicopter has to take it into account.

[@igclapp]

@@KutWrite True, but the difference in engine power will definitely affect takeoff distance and climb rate. I just want to make sure no one flying a turbo gets into the trap of thinking that they don't need to look at their performance charts for a takeoff at 6,000 feet and 40 degrees C because "it's 10,000 feet DA and it will fly just like it did when I took off at Leadville at 10,000 feet DA" (yeah, but it was 0 degrees C that day at Leadville). I'm just trying to emphasise that pilots should always refer to the performance charts!

[@MikeRetsoc]

Pilot seatbelt belongs across laps and hips. Not bellybutton area. Nice trip performance on the 22T.

[@gsveeb]

Nice videos! Keep up the great work. Just wondering though, Is there a reason why you don't have a front facing camera looking over the nose?

[@Elivate.]

Thanks! We started recording facing forward several months ago. You will see it in some of our other current videos. You are right, much better having a forward facing view in conjunction. Plus better wing footage, we had battery and connection issues with the wing camera on this trip.

[@jcheck6]

Mountain wave: Sounds like you will be doing quite a bit of mtn flying in the future. Learn all you can about mountain waves. The airline I flew for was outstanding in "wave" detection that occurs various times throughout the year (mostly winter). So much so that we filed/flew mtn wave bypass routes that were printed on our HI/LOW charts when areas were active. No other airline did this.

[@Elivate.]

Will do. Getting formal training in August with Stephen. Looking forward to learning more. Thank you for the tip!

[@jimmydulin928]

The excellent power of his Cirrus can get him into trouble in a wave or just strongly active rivers of air. In the common low powered airplanes I flew, there was no question as to what to do in 2,000 fpm down air...push forward on the yoke and fly through it as quickly as possible. Same with 2,000 fpm up air...pull back on yoke and stay in it as long as possible. In the San Pedro mountains I went from struggling to find up air at 9,000 to 13,500 in less than a minute in a 65 hp Taylorcraft. In a Tri-Pacer I went from 11,500 to 100' AGL at 7500 MSL in the same amount of time. The wind, when managed, is our friend. Attempting to maintain altitude is called, "the air just slammed him into the ground" in accident reports. He stalled trying to fight down air, stalled, and fell to the ground. Even in a Cirrus, always trying to maintain altitude in the mountains can be fatal. Strong down air bottoms out with a back bending bang, if we are still flying when we get there.

[@gs1doll]

On your run up I don't see that you have CAPS read . Just an observation. Also, you should look into why you may not want to go full rich on the mixture at high altitudes and instead just enriching mixture.

[@Elivate.]

Yah it’s on the checklist, just edited out of first flight, you can see it on second flight. That’s funny you say that about the mixture. I actually explained that on the ground to Lyneé and at the approach in Aspen leaned after going full rich in case and called it out while I did it. I edited both out because of video length and to avoid people asking about it 😆.

[@user-ox2du1yg6j]

My only comment, having flown out of many Colo high airports , is you never use less then full length . Hot and High requires full length for safety sake. Remember that your initial rate of climb is going quite a bit less then anticipated

[@Elivate.]

💯 agree. In fact, ground was implying to me they wanted an intersection departure and we were not going to accept that. But then they granted full length departure before I could contest it.

[@davidportugues1312]

What’s the make and model of your wife’s sunglasses?

[@Elivate.]

a.co/d/06IJORHd

[@mikesaenz4077]

W

[@Elivate.]

?

[@dragracin247]

Decent flying, next time work on your high speed landings. Think about driving a Mazda 3 and you’ll be better pilots for sure.

[@Elivate.]

😆 that’s funny. Dude I recognize your screen name from previous videos and off the wall comments. Thanks for following though you have a good sense of humor.

[@jerryclayton4616]

I’m hoping Dan Gryder or Blancoliro won’t be doing segment on him…

[@Elivate.]

I respect Dan and feel he does a great job providing non-biased analysis. But to imply that someone will need a crash analysis is not a well informed statement and relays bad intentions. If safety being our main priority is not clear from our videos, then I don’t know what is. Being an armchair pilot is easy and may make you feel better about yourself, but it will not make you a better pilot.

[@jerryclayton4616]

@@Elivate. as a retired CFI-I with LearJet time and over 4K TT I’m far from and armchair pilot… first of your videos I’ve seen but concerns raised… but you do you and be safe…

[@igclapp]

​@@jerryclayton4616Can you be more specific? We're all trying to learn here.

[@Elivate.]

With your experience, your constructive criticism will carry some weight. Please share what you feel I’m doing wrong in the cockpit.

[@williammorgan6639]

He does a lot of I think, I should. Does he scare anyone else?

[@safetycheckoops]

Umm did you watch the video? I never heard him say that once. Am I missing something? He displays cautious confidence and comes across as being proficient and experienced for only having 350 hours. I used to be a pilot. What is your fixed wing pilot experience? They are displaying cautious CRM every second that they are showing video of at least...

[@Elivate.]

When did I say that once? If I did, what is the safety concern with that?

[@asherhudson439]

More concerned with your video commentary than flying your aircraft safely…not great

[@Elivate.]

Interesting perspective

[@therustypilot3452]

That’s a voiceover for most of it and talking out loud is a challenge response single pilot style / his wife is helping too.

[@jcheck6]

@@therustypilot3452 I thought she did great with good CRM before start in Aspen. Great coordination in departing Telluride; everyone cooperated. Keep the vids coming.

[@Elivate.]

Thank you!

[@Elivate.]

She is a great co pilot! Makes us safer.

[@DeenaMeldgin-k3f]

Impressive! I’m so glad to see the poodles have oxygen and are safe. 🩷 So cool that you rescue pooches. Supporting rescues around the world. @nationalmilldogrescue

[@Elivate.]

Thank you! Also @tinypawssmalldogrescue