In my case with the FPE 40cc the plane takes off within 10 feet, no matter how deep or sticky the snow. Mine weighs around or close to 18lbs, and it lands like a sweetheart. Lots of wing area plus a flat bottom wing. Also having the xtra weight I do fly it up to 20 to 25 miles per hour winds. But light cross winds does not even affect it. So light is not always good. Plus with all that power I can go straight up, but I fly it most of the time at half throttle, I like to fly it as scale as I can. Nice slow low passes with nice climbing turns. There is nothing prettier.