As a general rule of thumb, yes, the lower the better (although there are certain circumstances where pilots actually want higher loadings).


You didn't say what type of plane you want to fly, and that makes a big difference as to what is acceptable in terms of weight.

In basic terms, lowering the wing loading lowers the stall speed of the plane. This means you can fly slower before you get into trouble. A very good thing for newer pilots, especially when practicing landing approaches. However, too little wing loading can result in a model that is difficult to control in windy conditions and can even be hard to land since it floats along forever.

For glow powered high-wing trainers (and I'm sure there are other opinions) somewhere between 12 and 16 ozs of wing loading is typical. For low wing sport designs you usually see loadings between 18 and 24 ozs. Scale models such as warbirds can have wing loadings well over 30 ozs. And they must be flown and landed at higher speeds to avoid stalling.

The larger a model is, the better it seems to handle higher wing loadings. A 1/4 scale model with a 30 oz wing loading will fly fine, whereas a 36" span model that heavy would be a real handful for the average pilot.

Now, these new electric foam and 3D designs are a different ball game. Some of these have wing loadings well under 10 ozs., especially the indoor stuff.