fly the airplane to no more than 90% of maximum gross weight.  For a typical light airplane with a maximum gross weight of 3,000  pounds, reducing the loaded weight to no more than 2,700 pounds  will regain much of the lost performance. A check of your air› plane’s performance data should show that takeoff and landing  ciistRnr.es. climb rates, ;mrl  singl~  P.ngine pcrformnnco for multi› engine aircraft is greatly improved at this reduced weight.  Turbocharged aircraft will gain some improvement, but it will be  somewhat less than that gained by non-turbocharged aircraft.  Since your true airspeed is higher for a given indicated airspeed,  many pilots will respond to the visual cues of higher ground speed  on takeoff by rotating at a lower !AS than normal. Instead, you  should use the same lAS for takeoffs and landings as you would at  sea level (or that the Pilots Operating Handbook specifies).  Rotating at too slow an airspeed may cause the airplane to take an  even longer ground run than necessary.  Turning radius is proportional to the square of true airspeed. For  example, if you increase your TAS by only 10%, your turn radius  will increase by 20%. In the pattern this may result in a wider than  expected turn to final resulting in overshooting. At high density  altitudes, many pilots will fly slightly wider patterns to account for  the wider turns.  Higher density altitudes also affect best rate and angle of climb air› speeds. Best rate of climb lAS decreases as altitude increases,  while best angle lAS increases slightly. Refer to your airplane’s  handbook to be sure you are flying the correct airspeeds to get the  performance you expect.  Any cross-country flight requires careful preparation, but a moun› tain cross-country trip deserves even greater attention to detail.  A clear understanding of the weather conditions is essential for a  safe  flight  into muutJtainuus terrain. However, weather reporting  stations in the mountains are sparse and getting a good briefing  just from hourly weather service observations is difficult. You may  need to phone some of the airports over which you will be flying  to get current conditions. Pilot reports are also very helpful and  Weather  Planning A Cross-country Flight  8 