A PA-32 pilot flying over the sierra nevada mountains encountered mountain waves severe enough to li...

Narrative:

Was flying VFR cross country (no flight following) over the sierra nevada mountains late morning; westbound. Winds had picked up so was trying to gain as much altitude as I could before crossing the mountains. Got into mountain waves and was alternately climbing and descending at greater than 1;000 FPM each direction; while holding constant airspeed. I was able to gain more altitude than I lost with each successive wave; and for safety's sake allowed that to continue for better clearance with terrain. Eventually reached greater than 19;000 ft; climbing at 1;300 FPM (aircraft flight manual says I could get maybe 200 to 300 FPM at 14;000 ft). It then occurred to me I was in class a airspace. I had not even considered that a possibility in this normally-aspirated piper lance so I had not considered the need for an IFR flight plan. Immediately I began descending (I had just reached a point where terrain clearance did not appear to be an issue any longer). Before the flight I had prepared by reading some about mountain flying; and how to safely deal with mountain waves; and knew that higher is safer generally to avoid the terrain and possible strong turbulence; but hadn't considered how high I might get. Better preflight planning and more situational awareness during the flight could have prevented the brief; inadvertent entry into class a airspace.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A PA-32 pilot flying over the Sierra Nevada mountains encountered mountain waves severe enough to lift him into Class A airspace. He descended out of the incursion when the wave subsided and the terrain below became less of a concern.

Narrative: Was flying VFR cross country (no flight following) over the Sierra Nevada mountains late morning; westbound. Winds had picked up so was trying to gain as much altitude as I could before crossing the mountains. Got into mountain waves and was alternately climbing and descending at greater than 1;000 FPM each direction; while holding constant airspeed. I was able to gain more altitude than I lost with each successive wave; and for safety's sake allowed that to continue for better clearance with terrain. Eventually reached greater than 19;000 FT; climbing at 1;300 FPM (Aircraft Flight Manual says I could get maybe 200 to 300 FPM at 14;000 FT). It then occurred to me I was in Class A airspace. I had not even considered that a possibility in this normally-aspirated Piper Lance so I had not considered the need for an IFR flight plan. Immediately I began descending (I had just reached a point where terrain clearance did not appear to be an issue any longer). Before the flight I had prepared by reading some about mountain flying; and how to safely deal with mountain waves; and knew that higher is safer generally to avoid the terrain and possible strong turbulence; but hadn't considered how high I might get. Better preflight planning and more situational awareness during the flight could have prevented the brief; inadvertent entry into Class A airspace.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	1091519
Time
Date	201305
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	ZOA.ARTCC
State Reference	CA
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	PA-32 Cherokee Six/Lance/Saratoga/6X
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Cruise
Flight Plan	None
Person 1
Function	Single Pilot Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Multiengine Flight Crew Flight Instructor Flight Crew Commercial Flight Crew Instrument
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 75 Flight Crew Total 1050 Flight Crew Type 35
Events
Anomaly	Airspace Violation All Types Deviation - Procedural FAR Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence

A PA-32 pilot flying over the sierra nevada mountains encountered mountain waves severe enough to lift him into class a airspace. He descended out of the incursion when the wave subsided and the terrain below became less of a concern.