I managed to fly a robbie over Mt Ruapehu during my training in NZ and distictly remember it taking forever to get to 10K. It was a lot easier climbing to that altitude referencing the volcano than when I climbed to 9,600 last year in the R22. I was doing a ferry from Alice Springs to Katherine and was so bored that I decided to play around with the altitude to find some reasonable tailwind and cooler temps (irrespective of the TAS of course...). Without the doors on you get very tense but it is just a state of mind. I found myself just about crushing the cyclic and had to force myself to relax and concentrate. I discovered on that day that 9600 is where you run into full pitch and full throttle.....
. .Anyhow, the winds were better at 6000.... <img src="smile.gif" border="0"> It was funny to watch the reactions of the mustering boys. Most have phobias about going over 500 agl and one I know goes everywhere at 200 agl. They were astounded that anyone would even try it. . .In the bigger machines I have no qualms at all with altitude and I take my hat off to the guys who fly paragliders, hanggliders and microlights at high altitude. Now thats crazy. <img src="tongue.gif" border="0">