Just curious... tonight was a perfect night for flying here in KC, no wind, except there were occasional sprinkles falling. Not enough rain to soak a plane or anything, but what happens when an enginge ingests water from sprinkles or mist in the air?

In my experience, nothing too terribly bad happens. I've flown in light rain showers a couple of times. My concern isn't so much the engine as the radio.

Flying in light rain is great... You normally have the feild to yourself so you can try the new moves and if it does not work out No ones the wiser Billy Bob askes you next Saturday, "where is that Cap 232 you had 2 weeks ago?" Reply," Uhm, I sold it for girl scout cookies."

We've flown in the rain on several occasions now, some of them not just a light sprinkle either. So far we've never had any problems arise from it. I do make an extra effort to get it all dried & cleaned up very well though along with a little after run oil & a carburator plug on those real rainy days.

i got caught in one of those 'Surprise' little summer showers at the field once and myself i didn't much care for the milky oil residue from the exhaust, after run oil isn't going to do a good enough job inside the engine to prevent rust forming on the bearings.

just my $.02
kc

I've had planes go down in to water, and had no problem cleaning them up afterwards. The key was to get the engine running again ASAP to blow/boil out the water and get it oiled up.

I've also flown in rain many times (including Saturday at a contest), the big problem is keeping the transmitter dry. Water in the TX can be really bad news.

Now, I wouldn't be flying a plane in the rain that had the RX hanging out in the breeze, so some profiles and such are probably not a good choice for wet-weather flying.

You can buy transmitter covers, or you can take a big plastic bag, poke the antenna through the bottom, and stick your hands inside the bag to fly. I haven't bothered with that trick, but I've seen other guys do it.

Several years ago I was flying late after work when the wind came up and it started raining. I had one of those fly till its dry type of engines on a powered glider with an 049 on the front. The weather got worse and watching the plane with the dark skies and lightning as a back ground looked really cool and I landed safe after the engine finally quit. It was the most fun that I had in a long time. Later I considered that standing in the middle of a field holding a box with a metel rod pointing up at the sky with lightning around may have been not such a smart idea!!! [X(]

light rain wont hurt your engine, as long as you dry it and provide sufficiant lube.
Ever go to a boat race and watch them stuff a boat at 60 or 70 mph?
I would be more worried about the water getting to the balsa and softening it to the point of warping in its skin.

As others have said, I'm more concerned with the radio. I saw a guy lose a plane because the rain got in his Tx and shorted something out just before the flight came to an ubrupt end.

Water will not harm an engine. May add some mass depending on the mixture and speed things up. However when lightening is present, that is not a good thing as static electricity is in the air. Most any old CL stunt flier that ever used a handle with an adjustment cable on the back side of the handle can attest to the shocks that happen when doing maneuvers especially in the top of the circle. Actually burned my hand a couple times.
There are numerous counts of golfers getting it on the backstroke on the golf course and graphite rods have suffered a few fishermen lightening strikes in boats. In my 41 years of aviation, I never got used to St. Elmos Fire -- build-up of static electricity on nose of airplane -- when in ice crystals and/or Sirius clouds near thunderstorm areas, sometimes up to 40 feet or so of blue flame around the airplane.
So simple rain is one thing but when TRW stuff is the event, please shut it down and take shelter so you can fly another day. Don't play with static electricity.

BTW, if you crunch an engine, and it's really dirty, wash it off with a water hose before moving anything. Get all that dirt off. Then take the carb off, the back plate off, the glow plug out and wash in wood alcohol or rubbing alcohol, then oil it up for good as new.

flying in light rain generally does no harm. flying with lightning present is asking for trouble with a capital T .you do not have to be close to a storm to be struck either.Ive had light rain cling to the wing & cause partial loss of aileron efficiency..likely the engine will not absorb much moisture as the prop breaks it up. its still drawing in moist air .

Yep. Rule #43 in the Don't Do This Section: Sing in rain, singe in lightning.

Hey flying in the rain is not the best condition to fly but it can be done.....The plane acts pretty much normal to me....Flew in the rain for the first time over the weekend. Three guys an i decided we were going to sit in the back of a ford pickup with our radios an take a road trip. One 60 size edge 540 a funtana X50 an a shoestring an my Little toni. All but the X50 are good for road trips, Its more of a slow flying 3D plane.We flew from Forest city ark to just south of jonesboro ark. On average we were makeing 12 miles per tank of fuel. On the way back is when the rain started comeing down. It wasen't alot but it felt like you were in front of a sandblasting machine. We stoped an grabed some plastic bags for the radios. we were all useing the short duck antanas so we wern't sord fighting. The syth mod in one of the 9303 started freaking out ,so he pluged in a regular ch mod. that may have been from the rain not sure. But it was a good time any way,rain is nothing to worry about. Heck your plane is wraped is plastic anyhow. Just look out for the electric falling out of the sky................