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Old 04-15-2003 | 04:44 PM
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Montague
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From: Laurel, MD,
Default Second beginner type plane

It's not a true analogy, but if you are flying a model that is, say, 1/8 scale of full-sized aeroplane, then a 30 mph wind causes the same reactions on the model as a 240mph wind would on the full size. It's actually worse because of air density, but there are a dozen other factors.
Actually, this is so far from being accurate that it will cause you more harm than good when flying. If it were accurate, then you could assume your stall speed would scale too, but it doesn't work that way at all. What you are talking about is the Reynolds number.

In a steady wind, the windspeed is a non-factor. There are only two issues you have to deal with that are specific to the fact that we pilot our planes from the ground looking up rather than from inside the plane.

The first is having a high enough max airspeed to get back to the field. Usually, not a problem with glow or gas, but some slow electrics and some gliders can run in to trouble here.

And second, the airplanes ground speed can be very different from what we are used to. We are used to judging airspeed based on ground speed, but when you throw in a high wind, most guys get their airspeed all wrong, with predictable results. Where you usually see it is a plane traveling downwind tries to turn cross wind and drops from the sky. The problem here isn't the wind, it's the pilot. The pilot saw the plane going fast, but didn't realize that the airspeed was actually quite low going in to the turn. When flying in high winds, trust your sticks, not your eyes.

However, the main problem on windy days really is turbulence near the ground. And small planes are usually affected more than larger ones because smaller windshears cover a larger portion of the flying surfaces and lower airspeeds mean that any windshear is going to be a larger percentage of the airflow over the wing. I hope that makes sense. If not, I'll clarify later.

So, when flying in high winds, the less time you spend a low airspeeds and close to the ground, in turbulent air, the better.

Some fields are located such that "smooth" air is hard to find on windy days, others have lots of clean air in even the heaviest winds.