schokshi

This weekend I flew PZ J3 cub for the first time. It flew well except kept on oscillating in pitch. 2 flights went fine. Wind was calm during this time. Wind picke up when tried the third time & blew the plane in to the woods & I could not find it. Since then I bought HZ Firebird Freedom assuming it will handle wind better.

x030399

Sorry to hear about the loss! Did you try revving the engine briefly, so that maybe you could hear where it's hiding?

The cub definitely doesn't handle variable/gusty wind well, even when it's low in the 5mph zone. It just ends up getting knocked around, eventually getting kicked onto its side and stalling into a spiral dive. If the wind is from a consistent direction, you can control it, you just end up crawling upwind, and zooming downwind. I had it in 10-15 mph consistent so'easterly yesterday, and had it hovering at 1/2 throttle with the venom motor. Prolly would have gone backwards with the stock motor I didn't find it much fun though, and quit after 5 min so I wouldn't lose it.

While the cub may be more sensitive to wind than other planes, bottom line is that none of the light electrics like wind. I don't have any experience with the Freedom, but I have a good # of hours on the Aerobird Challenger & Xtreme. The Freedom is bigger than the cub, so it should handle the wind a little better, but I'd still be very careful. I'm assuming it will fly somewhere between the Challenger and Xtreme, and I've had the Challenger knocked out of the sky by gusts of 10-12, just like the hand of God swatted it down. Even the Xtreme with it's extra weight and wingspan is a handfull in over 10mph, and pretty near un-flyable at 15mph.

The cub is a great plane and very easy to fly in calm conditions. I wouldn't give up on it yet, but if you are still learning, the Freedom is probably a better bet to start out with (in calm wind!) The cub was my first 3ch plane, and I flew it successfully on the first try. Got too confident, and went out in gusty conditions and crashed it, so then continued to learn on the Challenger. The Challenger is an easy flyer at low control rates, and you can get them pretty cheaply at 109.00, discounted from 179.00. I assume HZ is discontinuing them, or something.

In any event, once you feel your skills are honed from flying the Freedom, I'd give the cub another shot.

scott

brrzee

I had the same problem, started with calm conditions and there was a little bit of wind that picked up and she almost flew off. Thank god the instructor was standing next to me and managed to work his magic and get the plane to come back down and land in one piece. It was not an exciting experience to see my poor cub fighting a loosing battle against a very minimal wind, but it goes to show you the experts are right when the warn about stuff like that.

Hope you find it!