Come clean do you and empacher 48 actually fly for a living or are you wannab's
Yes I do fly for a living,
To reinforce what kiwichick was saying about negative VSI rates; yes I do see very regularly VSI descent rates with the VSI pegged on the downstop, but there is one thing for sure, if you keep heading into wind, the VSI will very quickly be pegged onto the up stop, then as you push even further into wind the VSI will be pegged onto the down stop, then again pegged onto the upstop... Usually after doing that a few times you would've crossed the mountain range that is causing this phenomena called "Mountain wave" and you'll be on the upwind side. You get this whenever there is significant wind over a significant mountain range, ie: the Southern Alps in either Westerly or Easterly conditions. Glider pilots know about this phenomena, how else would Omarama be the gliding captial of the world, and trips to over 30,000' be possible in the South Island, it ain't ridge lift that gets them there, nor thermals - they help them get into the wave and then its easy to get up that high!
I started my wave flying in small fixed wing piston aircraft with about 150 hours TT, I was shown the effect of wave (I did mention the Cherokee to 13,000' but I didn't mention I got from 2,500' to there in under 5 minutes, thats an average climb rate of over 2000fpm!!). My training with the company I work with now is very involved and teaches you a lot about wind, mountain wave, cloud effects that show you indiciations of rotor, lee side turbulence and where to find the smooth air. I am still learning about it and have got it wrong on a number of occasions, usually with a hiding that lifts everything in the aircraft to the roof, but your back up plan is usually in action by then, when there are days which are clearly beyond my skills and more senior pilots are flying, I am able to observe in the RHS and I still learn.
As I said, I am not an expert and never led on that I am an expert. But FLYING AROUND MOUNTAINS IN STRONG WINDS IS NEVER A PROBLEM IF YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING...