Objective: Blue Goose Aviation Mountain Back Country Course is designed for a pilot that has limited mountain flying experience and wants to gain knowledge and experience to use the awesome back country airstrips in the west. Our Mountain Orientation Course (2 day minimum) must be completed before taking the Mountain Back Country Course.
Experience: This course is designed for the pilot who has at least a Private Pilot Certificate. We recommend at least 100 hours total time and 30 hours cross country time. The pilot needs to be proficient in short and soft field take-off and landings, slow flight, and stall recognition prior to starting the course. If you are not proficient in the above areas add one day to the course for aircraft proficiency/
Equipment: We have a T-41 (210 HP Cessna 172), a Cessna 182 230 HP, or a 150 HP Cessna 172 for the course. We recommend the T-41 for this course. If you own your own airplane and are flying it out here our minimum requirement for this course is 160 horsepower.
Schedule: The course is customized for each individual student. The course can be from one to three days depending on the student’s expectations and proficiency. The following schedule is a typical two-day course from Polson, MT. This may done in conjunction with the Mountain Orientation Course.
Note: We only fly into a maximum of two back country airstrips per day. The idea of these airstrips is to allow access to pilots and their guests for recreation in the area. That means we are to use these strips to get to a place and enjoy that area. We will always stop, shut down, and as a minimum take a short hike at each of these airstrips. Trying to log as many airstrips as possible in a day is not only inconsiderate to the folks enjoying the area, it puts the use of that airstrip in jeopardy for those of us who enjoy being in the backcountry!
Day One:
We will coordinate your arrival time for our review if there has been some time since completing the Mountain Orientation Course.
Plan on arriving at the airport by 6:00 AM for a 7:00 AM take off and be done flying for the day by noon at the latest.
Mountain Flying Flight into the mountains practicing ridge crossings and valley flying with landings at grass runways agreed upon by instructor and student. Airports selected will depend on students proficiency, aircraft, and runway conditions in the area. We will plan on flying into one or two runways and between two and four hours of flying. If you want to fly out of the mountains back to Polson and spend the night in a hotel that is fine. If you prefer to camp that night at one of the back country airstrips we will accomadate that also. We have tents, and all the camping gear, except a sleeping bag for you at the hangar. If you buy a Montana fishing license you may spend the afternoon on one of our wonderful rivers fly fishing.
Day Two:
If we camped the night before we will now fly back out of the back country stopping at a couple of more grass strips on the way out. If we did not camp in the back country we will fly into a couple more nice back country airstrips in the morning and plan to fly out and be home by noon. We will continue to work on canyon flying, take-off and landings in mountain airstrips, weather observation, ridge crossings, and more. The airstrips we fly into will be based on your aircraft and pilot proficiency.
Day Three:
If you would like another day or two we could venture over into Idaho and fly into some of the wonderful back country strips in Idaho.
Lodging:
The instructor knows the area and can reserve lodging at excellent facilities or is willing to camp in the back country airstrips. Excellent fly fishing can be found at many of these locations for late afternoon and evening entertainment. Discuss your needs and desires (your idea of roughing it) with the instructor.
Cost: $1120.00 for our two day course or $1,680.00 for a three-day course.
Our Cessna 182 rents for $200.00 per hour, T-41 $185.00, and our Cessna 172 rents for $140.00 per hour – plan on 2 to 4 hours of flying per day based on your requests and goals.
This includes the instructor being available for questions and instruction during the entire course. A minimum of 4 hours of ground school including pre and post flight briefings. A minimum of 4 to 9 hours flying time over the three days. Flying time may be increased or decreased at students request.
This quote does not include airplane and expenses involved with the airplane, lodging, or meals.
Remember this course is tailored to each student’s individual needs! Call us to design a training course for your skill and aircraft performance.
Additional days into some more difficult airfields may be added at $560.00 per day plus expenses.
Payment Information:
All funds paid in US Currency via check.
A $1000.00 deposit is required to hold your reservation.
The final payment is due (1) one month prior to your training.
Cancellations:
If you cancel before ninety (90) days prior to the beginning of the training, a full refund (minus a $200.00 reservation fee) will be made.
If you cancel before thirty (30) days prior to the beginning of the training, a full refund (minus a $400.00 reservation fee) will be made.
If you cancel within the last thirty (30) days before the training your $500.00 deposit is non-refundable.