Back when I was a fledgling aviator with less than a thousand hours in my logbook, I ferried airplanes for various aircraft brokers throughout the United States to build time. My goal was to gain 1,200 hours of flight time so that I could hopefully become employed flying canceled checks with a Part 135 operation. The brokers would buy an airplane and call me to reposition it to their home hangar. They liked using me because at the time I worked for a major airline with flight benefits and this saved them a good deal of money.
Density-Altitude Debacle Leads To Near Disaster
Key Takeaways:
- A ferry pilot experienced a dangerous near-miss during takeoff in a Grumman Tiger from a high-elevation airport in Las Vegas, New Mexico.
- The aircraft exhibited severely degraded takeoff performance, barely lifting off with the stall horn blaring and requiring a low-altitude climb in ground effect.
- The pilot realized his complacency and failure to check the critical density altitude for the 6,877-foot elevation airport caused the hazardous situation.
- The incident served as a crucial lesson on the vital importance of calculating density altitude, especially at higher elevations, to avoid dangerous takeoff conditions.
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