Simviation Forums

Dumb question....  I understand that cruise altitude should be above 300ft. AGL,  even +500 going west and odd +500 going east.
  If I am planning a flight along rolling terrain, or flying say from flat land up over hilly, mountainous terrain where the ground elevation rises 500-1000ft. or more ASL,  do I constantly need to ensure my cruise altitude is adjusted?  Whats the easiest way to do this?  Can I use the elevation off a map, and use time/distance calcs along my route to know when to adjust?  Or is it less precise than that, and just pick a few prominent landmarks on my route and know to be at correct AGL at those?

Excellent questions.... First thing to note, is that you don't have to maintain any altitude while cruising VFR.. other than minimums over things like populated areas, or min/max regarding certain airspaces (like flying over towered airspace, or under a "shelf"). In fact, sometimes I'll cruise at a random altitude to avoid others (this is situational and requires experience to make that judgment).

Next note (and I'm sure it's a typo).. suggested cruising altitudes begin above 3000agl..

ANYway.. just think of it like flying from Chicago to Denver. A cruising altitude of 4500msl at Chicago, will fly you right into the ground well before you reach Denver. In other words.. you have the right idea. Plan on changing altitude as terrain dictates.. Checking the field elevations at airports along the way is a good reference... and of course hills/mountains and towers. Generally, in a light single, I shoot for something between 2500 and 6500agl... depending on winds aloft. Depends on the airplane too. A climb from 4500msl to 8500msl in a C172, even for better winds aloft, might be pointless on legs shorter than 200nm.

In addition to what Brett said.

Thanks for the help guys.  So I did a short flight the other night from Greenville-Spartanburg Int. to Asheville Int.  I took off from Greenville,  tracked inbound to an NDB thats a little more than the halfway point.  Waited for the needle to flop, then turned to track the outbound into Asheville.   Greenville is at roughly 1000ft. and Asheville is a little over 2000ft., so there is a 1000ft. difference in roughly 30 miles.   It was 337 degrees to the NDB and 344 to Asheville, so I climbed and maintained a 6500MSL cruise altitude.