Oh boy, a great question. I had a Goldberg Skylark 56 a while back, it was my third plane, by the way. I had an OS 52 Surpass on board. This was a real pain to build because the plane was designed for a two stroke not a four stroke. I had to chip out some of the wood in the cheeks to get the throttle to work without binding against the cheeks. And, that throttle was on the opposite side which needed some modifications in the build process.

Anyway, that's besides the point. I flew it one day in February. The wind was rather brisk.. to say the least, blowing about 20 or so knots. I was not used to the wind, so I came in for a landing, and followed my usual process of chopping the throttle on final. Well, as soon as I did, the wind 'grabbed' the plane and off it went, in the opposite direction AND upside down!!! It took me a few seconds to react and by that time, it was a good 300 or so feet away and going away quickly.

I never reacted fast enough, never thought about the throttle (which was still at idle). I managed to get it turned back upright and pointed back towards me, but still forgot to add throttle. As soon as I turned it into the wind again, the wind caught it again and tossed it around, and it headed into the ground, spiraled in and that was that.

My point here is that, unless the wind is blowing your hat off or something, you will have to decide if the wind is to brisk for you to handle. There is no real number at which you should not fly.. beyond common sense that is. I would not fly if the wind was a a full gale or something.

I usually check the forecast, and if it's blowing more than 15, I may just not go out that day because we get enough flying days when it is not blowing 15 or so. But, that does not mean I cannot fly in 15, I just don't choose to. I was out one day when it was blowing about 20 or so but it was right down the center line, and it was actually fun to fly my pattern plane with that wind. A cross-runway wind, well, all bets are off.

DS.