Wind was 33-36mph and guesting up to 44mph at the club yesterday according to weather.com. I wasn't going to get a chance to fly again for at least another week if I didn't go yesterday, so I said "what the hell" and packed up the Big Stik 60 in the SUV after work. I wasn't surprised that I was the only person there.

Each time I fly the Stik, I fall in love with it even more. On landing I would do a high speed down wind and base. Then on final I kept about 1/4 throttle and crabbed it in to the beginning of the runway. At about 3 feet above the runway I cut throttle and it straighted out perfectly from the crab approach, harriered like a kite for about 3 seconds, then touched down more gently than any other landing I've ever done. When I kept airspeed up on final, it was much less affected by the diagnal cross wind and basically cut through the wind like hot knife. Plus it makes this great howling sound on approach. I'm really glad I went with a .91 sized engine as it pulled through 30mph head wind without missing a beat.

High wind flying is GREAT! More people should do it and more people should own STIKS! I think a Stik will always be a permanent stay in my collection.