I was just wondering.....anybody out there fly trainers in 10 to 15 mile an hour winds?...I havent been able to fly for the past week and a half because every day there seems to be a 10/15 mph wind....[&o]

That's normal flying weather here in Oklahoma. All of my students regularly fly in winds 10-20, it's just part of life here. If/when you learn to fly in wind then you'll find yourself grounded a lot less. I know that seems like it's impossible to do, but give it a try. When you first try make sure that the wind is straight down the runway. Make a normal approach but keep some power on and fly the plane to the ground. You'll do fine.

Ken

That depends on the trainer. Some handle wind better than others. All high wing planes will want to flip over if it gets into a cross wind on the ground. A good way to handle a crosswind taxi is do what full scale Cessna pilots do, give it aileron into the wind. which means if the wind is coming in from the left give it just enough left aileron while taxiing to keep the wingfrom lifting and on the takeoff roll, but during the roll you will be letting off the ailerons a little at a time, but be prepared for the plane to want to roll away from the wind so you will need rudder and a little aileron to conteract this as the plane lifts off.

It's a lot to do if you are recently solo and do not have a lot of time in wind, It's a skill that takes tons of practice. If you have a sim, crank up the wind and have it at 90 degrees to the runway and practice

Yes indeed around hear if you can't fly at winds between 10 to 25 or so you will not have many flight days, in fact I started with a Nexstar and some time landed the thing helicopter style it can be done , not as much fune but challenging. I now fly plane that are better in the wind such as sports type, but you also have to go through the learning prosess, I'm sure you'll get there.

roltech

I agree.. while the wind can be an issue, the best thing is to learn to fly in it. There are several in the club I fly with, that if the pinwheel on our weather vane is moving, they don't fly. I consider the wind just something else to play with. And trainers can be a lot of fun in the wind. Point it into the wind and start pulling the power back... see if you can get the plane to move backwards. Tail slides can be a bit easier if you fly with the wind, then pull up letting the wind hit the top of the airplane. You can hold move elevator without loosing the vertical climb. You can land with a little more power, or see if you can set the plane down inside a 5' box. Respect it, but have some fun with it too.

I also agree, the wind needs to be respected but if you use it right, it's tons of fun.

I often take my 4*60 into 15 -20 mph winds. Image this plane using an OS91 Surpass and an APC 15X6 landing at half throttle and barely moving and being busy just keeping it straight and as level as possible. Now crack open the throttle just a tad and creep down the runway about a foot off the ground. Then cut back on power and just sit there and praying to god the wind does not stop because your about a foot off and around half throttle holding down elevator because it wants to climb because the wing thinks it's going 20mph.

Yep, it makes you nervous and can leave you shaking but the adrenaline rush can't be beat plus simply the fact that you know you can do it.

25 mph is about my limit with my LT-40

I'll agree, 10 to 20 mph is about normal here in OK, especially this time of year, and in the spring! If you dont learn to fly in it, you might as well take up spectating, because that's what you will mostly be doing!

SSDD here in texas.....


And bubba....i want a picture of that sounds like it might be cool to see lol

Down here in deep south Texas we consider 10-15mph wind a breeze. As others have pointed out wind is fun! My son has only recently soloed in these conditions and actually hates it when there is no wind.

Safe Flying!

Yeah, wind is a normal thing over here too during Sept. When I had my trainer we used to get up high, drop the revs, point the nose into the wind & glide off it, like a slope soarer

Always good fun & at idle your flight times go way up...

Tony.

I am a newbie, just did my first solo about a month and a half ago. In the summer where I live it is really calm. I took my first windy flight the other day, 15-20 mph, and crashed my alpha on approach because I cut the throttle too much and stalled about 20 feet off the ground. I flipped and nose dived. I was by myself when I did this, and although I have learned the lesson, it is costing some dollars.

I would recommend having someone with a little wind experience around when you first get to it. There is no club where I live, but I met a friend at the field that has a lot of experience. He is one of only three people, including me, that I know of that fly in the whole county. If he would have been there to coach me I may not be sitting out while rebuilding a wing.

Initially, flying in the wind can be (usually is ) very hard on the nerves. Once you get a little flying time you will find the wind is actually a nice thing.

The wind makes takeoffs and landings a lot easier (unless it is coming directly across the runway ). As with anything else, there are some things to be learned, but that is life.

The January issue of MAN has some very good pointers (Land Like a Pro ) for landing in the wind and an earlier issue (about 3 months ago ) of either MAN or Fly RC also had a superb article that delt with takeoffs, landing and flying in the wind.

Hopefully someone will be able to come up with the mag and issue.

You mean you can fly in less then 15 mph winds??? Just kidding but really it is neat flying in high winds. One thing else to remember DON"T GET TO FAR DOWN WIND !!!! In fact a lot of times I won't even get farther downwind then HALF of the runway.
I make all my students do some wind flying if possible, besides it's fun. ENJOY !!! RED

Change props with a heavier wind. Go to a more performance prop like an APC and get rid of them wood and Master Airscrew props. You will be surprised how much the prop will make a difference. The plane will track better and not get bumped around as much.

If you are flying a NexStar or the new H9 Mustang, take off the speed flaps and the anti stall wingtips in high wind, you don't need them with the wind.

A dead calm is the bane of taildraggers. A little wind coming down the runway actually makes them easier to take off and land.
Remember that there is a wind speed gradient from the ground on up. The closer you get to the ground, the less windspeed there is. This is why you have to land faster on a windy day than on a calm day. As you approach the runway, there may be plenty of airspeed 5 ft above the runway to fly but as you approach the ground, the windspeed goes away and your plane stalls and does an ugly landing. Also, the closer you are to the ground, the more turbulent the air is. Big obstacles like trees or clubhouses up wind of the runway can really kick up some major turbulence and make landing "interesting".

On calm days I use flaps too for take off and landing works for me! this way I can keep the throttle about quarter
works for me, that's on a taildragger and low wing WW11.

roltech

once could'nt land without overshooting runway til I realized there was no wind to slow me down