NY to MA. The Empire strikes back at the Commonwealth

[BlackBart]

What is the road up the mountain in...NH (?) that isn't that high in elevation number, but has the nastiest weather on the east coast? Ice and howling winds. Is it Mt Washington?

[abscate]

Mt Washington can get a bit gusty.

Until recently had the highest wind recorded in History, 231 mph in 1934

AUS beat it recently, though.

[matthew1]

I just drove past white water junction between VT and NH. In 1996 , a Learjet on short final did a go around, pilots got confused and crashed 7 miles fro, the airport. It took 3 years to find the wreckage.

Every winter like clockwork a doctor or two die in their private Cessna traveling between Denver and Vail or Aspen, often with their family. Thin air + mountains + weather = danger.

My uncle sold his ~1960 Beechcraft Debonair about fifteen years ago. A year after he sold it, the owner/pilot crashed it in bad weather, killing himself. https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/219720

He was an oil field manager. Like most civil aviation deaths, he was pushing it.

I rode in that plane well over a dozen times, many of them SDM <-> SFH, and once, San Diego -> Denver over two days. I flew it many times once we were up. My uncle is an ex US Marine helo pilot. He flew in the evacuation of Saigon and has seen his tail number in the many photos of that event, among fields of US helos getting friendlies and their families out of the way of an invading force knocking at the gates.

My uncle was exceedingly cautious. Even though he was instrument rated, he wouldn't fly in instrument conditions. Only VFR. He'd make us wait until the San Diego marine layer burned off in the morning, as I was pacing and being a 20-something chomping at the bit to get down to Mexico and soak up the sun and Tecates.

My son's uncle (once removed) on his mom's side died with 3 others just a year ago in Iowa. He was pushing it, trying to get around a summer rainstorm in a small craft. They had somewhere to be.

I'll never fly with a non-commercial/non-ex-military pilot. No offense to you hobby aviators, but nope. RIP N1254Z aka "Little Buddy", and RIP to Chip's brother and the young oil industry manager.

[matthew1]

Sorry for the sharp dark tone there!

[volvolugnut]

Mt Washington can get a bit gusty.

That is like saying Death Valley can get a bit warm.

volvolugnut

[abscate]

Military guys used to be the worst offenders but they really got that cleaned up after WWII

To be fair, when you’ve done 30runs over Germany Getting hit by flak and surrounded by bombs and gasoline, with fighters trying to kill you, your risk tolerance may be somewhat altered

[BlackBart]

. Thin air + mountains + weather = danger.

Speaking of that, and dark tone......
In 1955, my father was supposed to be on a DC-4 for a work trip from Denver to Salt Lake. He was sick, had to stay home, and his boss (and friend) went on ahead. United Airlines 409 flew into a vertical rock face at the top of Medicine Bow Peak in Wyoming, killing everyone. It's the reason I'm here, because he wasn't on that plane.

They used to fly up into Wyoming to loop around the big peaks in Colorado. This guy was behind schedule and thought he'd shortcut to make up time. It seemed to be a known thing among hotdog pilots. It was cloudy and windy and there were downdrafts in the mountains. The unpressurized C-54 / DC-4 normally flew at 10,000' or a bit more, more for passenger comfort than anything. Some workers at a logging camp saw it fly over a few hundred feet above them at roughly 10,000'. The shortcut takes you NW between mountains before heading west and then SW into Salt Lake.

Medicine Bow Peak is 12,000'. The plane hit at 11,570. He was climbing. Some of it went up and over the ridge, most tumbled down the cliff. There were four oil stains on the rock where the engines hit. The climbing club at the University of Wyoming was recruited to climb up the face to help with the recovery. There are still bits of aluminum and engines scattered on the mountain.

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Now, back to cheerful roadtrips through New England!..................

[abscate]

That crash and then the famous clear air collision of two planes a few years later.....and the FAA and ATC were born.

I still get chills listening to how calm those folks are when the chips are down.

Yeah, Teteboro, this LaGuardia departure ...I’ve got an Airbus with no engines and he needs a runway right away.