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Sorry to resurrect this thread, but as the OP I have come across a repeat of this situation and have been given instruction on how to handle it. I would like to see if others had an opinion on the matter. I am currently in Los Angeles building time in a similar make and model to my plane in Scotland Maule MX&7) for insurance requirements and a BFR (flight review). I retained the services of a respected CFI here, and today we flew from Long Beach (sea level) to Big Bear airport(appx.6300ft) during the flight over the mountain ridges we experience light chop and I talked about my experience of downdrafts in Scotland as detailed in my original post. The CFI suggested as a rules of thumb that when approaching mountain ridges where there are signs of rotors/downdrafts such as lenticular clouds and ever increasing turbulence, that for every 10 mph of wind coming over the ridge add 1000ft of altitude and cross it at a 45 degree angle. (essentially get to the altitude you need prior to getting near to crossing the ridge) Applying this during my Scottish flight where I experienced 30MPH + headwinds would have given me an altitude of appx. 7000ft crossing the 4000ft ridge as opposed to the 5000ft altitude I tried it at. Anyone any thoughts on if this theory would have prevented me from experiencing the worst of the turbulence and downdrafts?
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