I moved from an Avistar to a Supersportster 40/OS 46fx a short while ago. I love the Supersportster and am having a blast with it. It has taught me much about glide slope on landing because of its speed. I found moving to taildragger as pretty much a non-issue except in a strong cross wind takeoff. Yesterday there was a 15mph direct crosswind at our field. I was taking off from a paved runway and had trouble just after liftoff with the tail swinging around. I worked on throttle control and keeping the tail down until I built up some speed and watching the rudder to keep it straight. That worked pretty well. Is there anything more I should be doing? I have been using ailerons to deal with the crosswind after takeoff. Should I be doing that or just rely on rudder? Is this just a "practice more" issue. Thanks.

If you can takeoff and land in a 15 mph cross wind and have not crashed, it sounds like you're doing pretty darn good.

I did have a minor crash on one takeoff that put a tear on a wingtip and broke a prop so I'm not doing all that well :-) I am trying to get better so this Chicago wind won't keep me grounded.

Your doing fine, don't let cross winds freak you out.

Yeah it sounds like your doing fine!! Cross winds are unperdictable at
times.. All you can do is know where it's coming from and be ready to
make small corrections. Normally I life-off on the fast side, But when
cross winds are present I build more speed before lift-off for a little
more control.. Keep up the great work!!

Thanks for the encouragement! I recently seemed to take a jump in my confidence in flying. I think it came from taking the advice here and sticking with the Avistar for a long time. I just love that plane. I learned on it at the beginning of last season and flew it only until just recently. Another club member showed me how to do spins and snaps earlier this season and since then I finally felt that I should move on to another more capable second plane. I am now using the Avistar to let my daughters try their fingers on the sticks with my old transmitter as a buddy box (I should turn those throws back down come to think of it)

As I have read here the Supersportster has been a dream to fly and does things much better than the Avistar in terms of precision. It handles the wind so well. It has really bumped up my confidence even more. I would not have been flying my Avistar in these conditions. It would have been upside down for sure!

The people here on RCU has been a great help to me in learning. My next dream plane is a 60/90 Edge 540 (Pacific or probably Vector Flight) I am using the SS to try to work up to it by the end of next season.

You will be ready for the Edge before you know it . Take your crash as a minor one and keep going, it sounds as though you have the right idea. Takeoffs in a 15mph crosswind can be a challenge or fun, depending on your outlook. I actually love them. You are doing fine and the SS will definitely help with moving up to the Edge.

One little thing you can try is to practice sideslips while in the air. If you already do not know how, it's fairly simple but can be a handful until you get used to them.

Basically, fly in such a way that you are safe but have a direct crosswind to your flight path. Drop the wing just a little bit that is facing into the wind with aileron and counteract the turn with opposite rudder. You may need to add elevator (either up or down) since some planes tend to go nose down or nose up when the rudder is applied. Most likely you will need some up elevator as a side slip is also a good way to maintain flying speed and directional control but lose a lot of altitude quick, if you keep off the elevator.

Once you have side slips down, practice going from a side slip to a crab into the wind and visa-versa. tCrabs are done just like the side slip only you are not using aileron and you are turning the plane just enough into the wind to fly a straight ground track. Either way you will get great rudder practice and these maneuvers teach great directional/altitude control.

Both of these will help well with fine rudder and aileron control which is usuful for anything related to crosswinds. As with any crosswind maneuver, remember to keep power in and airspeed up a little.

A good way to see what way your plane will react to the rudder is to get up and get some altitude and do a rudder only turn and observe which way the nose goes (either up or down.) I am not sure about the SS but my 4* and Twist pitch down but my Somethin Extra and Ultimate just do a level turn.

The steady wind is not the problem..the gusts will kill you.