When your gut tells you to land....LAND!
06-19-2005, 12:12 PM
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When your gut tells you to land....LAND!
Cam close today to killing my Styker...was flying around and the wind was tossing it all over...i had controll, but kept telling myself it was too much...so i finally did after only about 3 minutes of flight...about 2 seconds after i landed, a good 30MPH gust hit from about 90 degress different direction than the calmer winds were comming from...it flipped the stryker on its back, and it was already landed...that would have been interesting if i had stayed up...
06-19-2005, 02:58 PM
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RE: When your gut tells you to land....LAND!
L0L last summer when i was at flight school, my instructer landed it and then i went to get it and the plane did like a half back flip. there was no damage, it was a bit to windy that day, fly full trottle going about 5-10 mph.. so we cut the day short. but it was cool because you could hover. 
06-19-2005, 06:03 PM
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RE: When your gut tells you to land....LAND!
its not the 5-10 MPH part that gets me, thats fun, its the Warpspeed-downwind that im not comfortable with...especially when its time to pull out of it...
06-20-2005, 02:18 PM
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RE: When your gut tells you to land....LAND!
If you really want to fly in wind, it is no big deal once you gain experience. In fact, it can be a lot of fun! Some pilots never gain this experience, which is unfortunate because in many parts of the country, the wind seems like it is always blowing. I swear that we have the worst winds in the Midwest states. If I waited to fly when the winds were 5-10MPH, I'd only get out about 3 times a year... no joking. Locally, a group of us went to fly yesterday. Wind was in the 20-25MPH range. We had a blast. Today it is really pretty "calm" at 11MPH.
The highest wind I have flown in was 30-40MPH with gusts to 55MPH. It took some extra concentration, but was flyable. I was at a fun-fly, and only two of us flew in that wind. I have also flown in the bow fronts of super cells, which often have unpredictable winds in the 50MPH+ range. Now you can't just jump to this level without practice in lower winds, nor would most want to fly in this much wind anyway, but winds up to 25MPH are very flyable with nearly any plane.
As for the fun part, there are a lot of fun games you can play in the wind. Sit stationary in the sky like a kite, land rolling backwards, takeoff with no roll, etc.
You don't need to be some gee-wiz hot shot pilot to fly in 25MPH winds, but you do need practice. My suggestion for learning to deal with wind is to pick a day when the wind is fairly constant down the runway, but a bit above what you like. Get a more experienced buddy to come along to spot for you. Worse case, your spotter can land your plane if your nerves are totally shot. I won't kid you... at first, flying in the wing will suck. But after awhile, you will gain confidence and realize that wind really is no big deal. Progressively fly on days with stronger winds, gusty winds, cross winds, etc. Pretty soon you will enjoy flying in the wind. OK, winds is never as nice as a dead calm day, but still fun. Besides bruning fuel for experiecne in winds, the best quick tips I can offer is you need to realize your plane probably has a rudder, i.e. start using it; and land/takeoff with more power/speed, i.e, don't try to 3-point landings in the wind, etc.
Cheers.
The highest wind I have flown in was 30-40MPH with gusts to 55MPH. It took some extra concentration, but was flyable. I was at a fun-fly, and only two of us flew in that wind. I have also flown in the bow fronts of super cells, which often have unpredictable winds in the 50MPH+ range. Now you can't just jump to this level without practice in lower winds, nor would most want to fly in this much wind anyway, but winds up to 25MPH are very flyable with nearly any plane.
As for the fun part, there are a lot of fun games you can play in the wind. Sit stationary in the sky like a kite, land rolling backwards, takeoff with no roll, etc.
You don't need to be some gee-wiz hot shot pilot to fly in 25MPH winds, but you do need practice. My suggestion for learning to deal with wind is to pick a day when the wind is fairly constant down the runway, but a bit above what you like. Get a more experienced buddy to come along to spot for you. Worse case, your spotter can land your plane if your nerves are totally shot. I won't kid you... at first, flying in the wing will suck. But after awhile, you will gain confidence and realize that wind really is no big deal. Progressively fly on days with stronger winds, gusty winds, cross winds, etc. Pretty soon you will enjoy flying in the wind. OK, winds is never as nice as a dead calm day, but still fun. Besides bruning fuel for experiecne in winds, the best quick tips I can offer is you need to realize your plane probably has a rudder, i.e. start using it; and land/takeoff with more power/speed, i.e, don't try to 3-point landings in the wind, etc.
Cheers.
06-20-2005, 03:00 PM
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RE: When your gut tells you to land....LAND!
What John said and I will agree too, flying in the wind can be nerve racking at first but once you learn the rudder it's amazing just how easy it can become.
To go a little further on his suggestion about not trying to 3-point a landing is that in a 3-point stance the planes main wing has a high angle of attack, In a wheel landing the angle of attack is low. In the 3-point, if a good gust of wind comes right at touchdown, you will be flying again with no airspeed to speak of. Even a high lift wing such as the UCD, Funtana, Twist can takeoff right after landing if the gust is strong enough and all 3 wheels are on the ground. Of course this applies to taildraggers
Been there, done that
and I will agree too, flying in the wind can be nerve racking at first but once you learn the rudder it's amazing just how easy it can become.To go a little further on his suggestion about not trying to 3-point a landing is that in a 3-point stance the planes main wing has a high angle of attack, In a wheel landing the angle of attack is low. In the 3-point, if a good gust of wind comes right at touchdown, you will be flying again with no airspeed to speak of. Even a high lift wing such as the UCD, Funtana, Twist can takeoff right after landing if the gust is strong enough and all 3 wheels are on the ground. Of course this applies to taildraggers
Been there, done that
06-20-2005, 03:36 PM
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RE: When your gut tells you to land....LAND!
Well, If i would have been flying my nexstar maybe...but not the stryker....foamie flying wing doesnt like the wind too much....into a headwind it wants to climb, even with full down elevator...fun though, your right...but im not ready to repaint another fuselage yet...
