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Why New Pilots Should Learn To Fly At High Altitudes

How Learning to Fly a Helicopter at High Altitude is Different From Learning at Sea Level

Helicopter training is a specialized enterprise. Guiding a chopper into and down from the air are tasks that require the skills that only the most experienced instructors can help develop. The setting for that instruction should also play a major role when choosing a flight school, no matter the flying conditions a pilot expects to encounter most frequently once he or she has been trained. Learning to fly at lower elevations may be a more common choice, but high altitude flying demands a greater mastery of the helicopter; pilots at these altitudes need to understand and respond to the limits of helicopter performance. Learning to fly with Vertical Limit Aviation in New Mexico, in either Albuquerque or Santa Teresa, can help new pilots master this challenging environment and get started on an exciting aviation career.

Understanding the Atmospheric Conditions at High Altitudes

High altitudes produce higher air pressure and cooler temperatures, creating significantly different flying conditions than pilots typically experience at sea level. Helicopter rotors are not able to exert as much force at high altitudes, making the aircraft more difficult to control. Pilots for the US military, for instance, call the kind of high altitude flying they are routinely expected to perform in mountainous Afghanistan “graduate-level piloting.” Learning to control a chopper at high altitudes like those found in New Mexico more readily prepares pilots for the greater precision required to perform in all atmospheric conditions. If a pilot learns to fly at a higher altitude, their grasp of the principles of helicopter safety will be sharper and their experience of varied atmospheric conditions will be greater than their peers who have trained at sea level.

Where to Train at High Altitudes

New Mexico, with its undulating terrain and extreme desert temperatures, is an excellent place to find the challenging atmospheric conditions that will help new pilots master flying at high altitudes. Instructors with Vertical Limit Aviation in Albuquerque and Santa Teresa are specialists in high altitude instruction, and are some of the only instructors in the United States who can provide top quality high density altitude instruction. Visit www.verticallimitaviation.com for more information or to begin building the training regimen that best suits your needs.

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