Waypoints: Terrain at every turn

Editor in Chief Tom Haines has visited all 50 states and flown GA airplanes in 48 states.

I had been down this runway before—but always in a simulator during a jet type rating or refresher course. This airport is a favorite for sim instructors. In the box, of course, it’s always IMC. I wonder why they spend so much in making the realistic views out the window when it always seems to be cloudy during sim training. But today was the real deal—real pavement below me and real mountains ahead.

I held the brakes while advancing the thrust levers on the Cessna Citation M2. Even at the 6,500-foot elevation, the lightly loaded jet leaped forward when I lifted my toes and away we went. Right after rotation, I cranked in the left turn toward the COPER Intersection as outlined in the departure procedure. The BEVRR One departure procedure was emphatic that the turn start immediately after takeoff. Notes like this get your attention: “On departure rapidly rising terrain and trees within 1.5 miles west of the airport and within 0.25 miles south of the airport.” Yeah, today I see it in that big moving map out the windshield.

We raced toward COPER and continued the climb as we then started an arcing right turn to fly up the valley to BELGN. Fortunately, the Garmin G3000’s flight director provided expert guidance throughout the procedure and soon we were above the mountains and on our way eastward.

Our arrival had been equally sporty, skimming along above peaks nearly 12,000 feet tall from the Kremmling VOR to AQUALA to intercept the localizer for the LDA 25 approach. Near the VOAXA waypoint, some 20 miles from the airport, we could see the runway off to our right, but maintained our southwesterly course to stay on the procedure, rather than snaking our way through a canyon for the visual. The runway slid into sight as we crossed a 9,000-foot ridge and continued the descent to an uneventful but mesmerizing landing.

The view on this clear day was spectacular—and eye-opening. I had flown over that part of the world many times and landed on either side of Colorado’s impressive mountains—on the Front Range and in Utah, but this was my first trip down the chute among the terrain except those nerve-wracking exercises in the simulator. Would that every trip into mountain airports occurred on such Chamber of Commerce sorts of days.

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