My whizz is two years now. It wouldn't even attempt to fly with a 280. I tried a gws 350 and got it off the ground. When I put an E-Flite Park 400 outrunner brushless with a 9cell 650mAh nimh pack in it, the plane took off like a rocket. I am using a prop saver and gws 10x8 prop. Now after a year with the brushless setup I can do anything but knife edge with it. As for the wind, I have successfully flown mine in 15+ mph winds. The extra weight helps here. In fact it is quite windy today here in Indiana, and got two good flights, before I had to get ready to leave. Good luck. I hope this helps.