ORIGINAL: Campgems
ORIGINAL: jetmech05
First of all the airplane doesn't know if it's windy or not...only you know....
That is bad advise for a new guy. Of course the plane knows if it's windy or not.That old adviseis only good in a wind tunnel with constant velocity windalway from the same direction.That isn't life at the flyingfield.
I've watched my 4*60 drop like a rock when I made a turn down wind when I didn't have enough airspeed for the turn. A high wing like the LT40 tends to blow over on the ground when the wind is at a right angle. The wind never blows a constant speed, so the gusty and variable is a good place to practice.Today I had my old Senorita out to the field. The wind was pickingup and if I applied enough throttle to make ground speed up wind, the plane was climbinglike crazy. The plane reacts to thewind velocity and direction.Someplanes react differently. Low wing heavy planes areless of a problem ina strong wind, but theproblem is still there.A highwing trainer is difficult in winds, especially cross winds. Going out on the runway and picking theplane up after it flipped on in back when Imade the turn down the runway, sure takes thefun out of the day.
All that aside, if you are learning to fly. 5 to 10 mph is about top end for a beginner. If your instructor is good, he can take off and land in much stronger winds, and give you a taste of how theplane handles in the wind. After a while, you pickup how the plane you are flying handles andthe wind doesn't become quite the problem it used to be. My personal rule ofthumb is that when the planes on the benchesstart blowing off, it's time to call it a day. Here is the link to the weather station at the college just about a quarter mile from our runway.
http://www.wunderground.com/weathers...?ID=KCASANLU17 This is for the current day. If you look at this post tomorrow, you will have to change the day displayed to reflect today, Sept 9
Our wind conditions are basically the same, but sometimes quite different locally as we have mountains, ponds, tree lines buildings etc that all change the flow and velocity of the wind. Today. we all packed it up around 10:45 as things were starting to blow off the tables. Also, my senorita was a real bear to get on the ground by then.
We thend to overestimatewind speed. Man, it blowing a galeout there, only to find out that it is gusting to 15mph. Actual 5mph is goodtraining wind. 10mph is on the edge and no one should try to learn to fly at 15.After you have some hours under your belt, push the limits of your planeand you.
Don