I fly on the east coast but do cross the Appalachians regularly. I never considered them mountains and never experienced more than an occasional chopped. I took the course just to keep learning. The other day the flight was CAVU and perfect except the wind was unusually perpendicular to the mountains at 60 kts at 12,000' and I was worried about mountain waves but never thought they occured over the Appalachians. At the southern edge of the mountain range with the peaks at only 4000' and me at 14,000' (I climbed thinking about turbulence) I sudden and smoothly began descending at 800 ft/min. After being startled I knew I was in a wave, adjusted power and pitch and within a minute I was out of it but descended 1000'. As an East Coast flier I thought this was only a West Coast event. Anyway, if it wasn't for the course I wouldn't have even thought about a wave on a beautiful flying day and would not have so confidently managed it. So thanks Colin and the BoldMethod.
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