linkadrip

Hello All the RC fans out there, I'm startinging this thread For the purpose of finding RC aircraft that will fly in wind speeds over 10 mph. I live in a town were the wind never stops blowing. My son and i have had some redhawks for some time to learn how to fly. They flew well at the park, but there are large wind blocks there, problem was the area is not that large and continualy flying around in circles gets a bit old after awhile. And its a public park with people wouldnt want to accidently hit someone.[&:]

So we went on the search for an area that is alot more open and found a good place to fly, problem is the wind speed in this open area is always at least 10 to 15 mph, sometimes its less. But we managed to fly the red hawk in this area and found it was a difficult task but not impossable. A few times it got away and flew several thousand feet into the air and as you know the higher you get usually the higher the wind speeds. So after 3 flights there it finally was to much for the little powered glider and she hit the ground at a very high rate of speed and that was all she wrote. RIP Red hawk [&o]

So now i'm intrested in finding an aircraft that will handle higher speed winds. Something we can fly that won't be an issue if the wind speed is 10 to 15 mph. So post your comments about your experiences with flying in high wind conditions with different aircraft and which you found to be the best in high winds and the worst seems like a good topic that i havent found any forum coverage on.

Redhawks dont fly good in high winds and this was stated in the manual and dvd that came with the aircraft. But when you have the urge to go fly something you will try anything. And so the search for a plane continues.

Mr67Stang

Park flyers in general are not a lot of fun in winds over 10 mph... idealy they are flown in under 5 mph breezes. Go Nitro and most of them will handle 10-15 mph without any real difficulty.

Warbird Joe

Hello Link

Well I just spoke with a guy from Colorado that flew at our airfield all week here in Ohio. He said it was little difficult in our mild 5 - 10 mph winds. He had nothing but electrics that he has built himself. He said the wind is 15 - 20 everyday. He upgraded his electrics to Hacker 30 series and said he had no problem at all with them. I thought he was a little full of it but we had a 20 mph day and his planes flew great. All were made out of 6mm Dupron. So I guess experiment and see what you think. I have been told since I have been in this hobby lightweight stinks in the wind however I seen with my own two eyes he was having a good time flying and not struggling. good luck with flying in the wind. However, my choice of planes are nitro. They are always great in the wind.

superflea

well I started flying R/C a number of years ago in Minot ND where a calm day was blowing 10-15 I was flying an eaglet 50 on a .25. It got bumped around, but I soloed and to this day wind doesn't bother me at all.

linkadrip

From a beginners point of perspective. Nitro Sounds Great but requires alot more to fly the aircraft. Fuel and Other field equipment.
Have a Nexstar 60 with a Saito GK.72 4 stroke engine in it and a extra 330L Gasser. To Fly these planes requires a road trip and alot of prep which is fine when time permits. Neighther of witch have been flown yet. and i'm certain they would fly very well in 10 to 15 MPH winds. The flying area also would require a runnway for the large nitro planes of which there are None in this town other then the Glider airport Or City airport of which neighther will let you fly a RC aircraft At.

My main intrest is in finding an electric powered aircraft that will handle the same wind speeds as the nitro's, something that can be put in the truck and taken to the flying area and pluged in and away we go. Still need alot of training before any attempt is made to fly the nextstar or the gasser. My son and I have alot of flight time on the G3.5 Sim but IMO it isn't the same as going out and flying in real life. The flying area has no runnway, its basically just a big Field that is flat and open with lots of weeds. Have to take pictures of the area so it's more understandable were these flights have taken place. And were we wish to continue our flight training.

Weight i'm sure has a big factor in how much wind an aircraft can handle as well as Aerodynamics. But for the begineer EP seems a more resonable way to go at first then after confidence is built in sucessfully flying EP aircraft the next step would be Nitro.

There must be an EP Aircraft out there that can handle the wind.

Campgems

Electric power vs Nitro power isn't the issue. Plane design is more of an issue. Our field has a mix of wind conditions, sometimes during the same flight. Mornings are usually less than 5mph, but by about 9:30 or so, we start getting wind shifts and turblance from the wind coming over the costal mountains by our field. If the wind it blowing 5 or 15 MPH down the runway, all is well. If it is gusting from down the runway to to 90 degrees to it and back, and going from dead calm to 15 mph winds in the mix, landings can get iffy for an inexperienced guy like myself. While these conditions make some of us close up shop for the day, we have guys who come out with a bunch of foam planes and fly them with little problem. The Stick types seem to handle the wind OK also and there are two or three guys who regulary fly one of the small electric sticks in the wind with little problem. My trainer, a Laniar Explorer 40 with a OS 52 four stroke was a real problem. The high wing and high center of gravity resulted in the plane on it's back a couple times when taxing out to the runway and a gust hit it. After some practice, you can get used to it though and successfuly fly in the wind. My four star 60 handled the winds well untill late in the roll out after landing. It would weather vane into the wind when the cross wind was stronger than the apparent wind on the runway. You just learned to adapt.

I think the answer is to fly a faster and lower wing bird in the wind and it will handle better. The real answer is pilot ability. In that reguard, I like the calm better.

Don

Insanemoondoggie

In winds up to 15 mph. I fly a LT40 with a Magnum 4c 52 or a 4 Star .40 with a Saito 56 .
For real windy days I fly a Twist .40 with a Saito 72 and a 14x4w apc prop. A short run way is no problem as the plane will take off and go vertical with 5 ft. of runway and on a windy day will hoover land where you want it. Actually a steady wind is really fun with this plane.

linkadrip

Great i will look into lower wing aricraft that have a lower CG there have been some claims that this aircraft will handle high winds of 20+ Mph. and is a Ep aircraft. But as far as getting real Flying Experience with it i'm unsure if this would be a good choice. XPD-8 and Miglet.

I will check out the LT40 and the Twist 40

Wondering what A Stick Aircraft is? I think i found a stick and the Twist 40 which both look like really fun planes. 5 ft of run for a take off would be excellent.

darneir

you stole my icon lol, but you know i think fish with wings fly better in high winds as they have no power, perhaps we should get some gliders, yes?

Insanemoondoggie

The Twist is a fun plane , on low rates it can be some what tame . Flip to high rates and hit the throttle and it will roll so fast , it`s a blur.
If you never flown nitro or a trainer, this plane will be a handful for you and do not recommend it.
The LT40 a big plane , 70 inch wing and takes for ever to land , so it won`t fit your limited space. And to be honest , I run nitro only and don`t have a clue about electrics , so one of the other members will be better to suggest them.
As far as flying in wind , If I don`t fly when it`s windy , I don`t fly much and concider just part of flying.

Hossfly

Electrics are not my thing, however I used to keep some 1/2A to .12 stuff around to fly in near-by fields on quick notice when I had small boys -- long time ago.

In the magazines now are a number of models being advertised for electrics OR glow in the .15 to .40 size. Look over some of the magazines at your LHS. Maybe you can find something that fits your fancy or check some of the big web sites. In addition check the all the electric forums and I'm betting you will get better help there for what you want.

There are guys in my club flying all sizes of electrics right up to FAI Pattern competition with electric. VERY EXPENSIVE at that size but to each his own. There are a couple electric profiles that handle winds of the 10-15 mph easily. Just check 'em out. They are out there.

Have a Blast -- Just don't make any noise!!

linkadrip

flyinrog

My Feedback: (1)

I think you'd be better off asking this over in the electric forum under park and backyard flyers....your gonna need something tough enough to handle wind, which means your probably gonna need brushless/lipo power to fly it...they would know better..I have one that came from Polk Hobbies and it is a foamie that came ARF with brushless and lipo and charger and servos for $125...but havent had the chance to fly it yet.....its called a focus 400 if you want to look it up..half the reason I bought it was for the electric setup in it, if you look up a few brushless systems this was a pretty good buy....Rog

bkdavy

My Feedback: (1)

When you're trying to learn to fly in the wind, you need enough power to overcome the wind speeds you're flying in. You need to have the plane trimmed so that it won't always climb at high throttle settings. Higher wing loading also helps.

A plane with a dihedral wing is going to be more affected by cross-winds than a plane with a flat wing.

Unfortunately, none of these characteristics (high power, high wing loading, no dihedral) make for a good plane to learn to fly.

The hobbyzone red hawk you're flying is fun to fly, but its not going to teach you how to handle larger planes with more power. Find a local club, get with an instructor. Chances are, they already have a plane you might get some instruction on. You'll find you have more options than you ever considered.

Brad

Deadeye

My GWS Formosa LOVES the wind. Speed 400 motor with a 11.1 volt, 2100 ma lipo. Have flown in 20 MPH lots, even flew in a 30 MPH wind with 40 MPH gusts...the plane's top speed is 35, so that was interesting.

bkdavy

My Feedback: (1)

From the Tower Hobbies Technical notes for the GWS Formosa:


Brad

horace315

My Feedback: (15)

with the size eletric you would need to fly in winds over 15mph in price they are the same as glo,i have seen several 60 size extra's with conversion added in the kit for eletric,i priced the eletric equipment needed and they wernt cheap,and depending of the quality they were more in price.

linkadrip

Well seems now that june is here it has become alot hotter here in the day and the flying area is alot calmer not as high a winds. Moderatly 5 to 10 MPH So park flyers dont seem so bad now. Considering the cost involved in the higher powered elctrics seems even with the glow powered aircraft. i was looking at a EP Yak on tower hobbies web sight and the brushless motor for it cost more then the plane does crazy.

So i found this plane and were going to give it a shot and see how it does in the winds .

[link=http://www.hobbyzone.com/rc_planes_parkzone_spitfire.htm]hobbyzone[/link]

Pictures provided buy hobbyzone web site.

mrlikescheese

Well if u want a lot of advise on beginning with park flyers then [link=http://www.horizonhobby.com/Articles/Article.aspx?ArticleId=1478]read this.[/link]

linkadrip

Well after flying now for over a year i can say that the best flying aircraft i have found for highwinds is the TWIST all Sizes 40 60 150 I have yet to test the 150 size and not going to bother with the 60. The worst are park flyer planes. Anything over 5 mph and there very uncontrolable. I'm sure there are other Aircraft out there that do well in high wind situations as well.

Charlie P.

I can tell you anything that flies over 100 mph won't be much affected by a 15 mph wind. ;-)

The mid-wing pattern ships, glow or electric, are purposely neutral and shrug off wind. You have to fly ahead of them (if you wait and try to react you will be too late). In fact, the Reactor looks like a good windy day performer.

flyX

I use to fly my .40 duraplane in 10-20 wind or gust when everyone would pack it up.
Becuase it's a brick and I wasn't afraid of crashing it.
A contender dose pretty good. i use to piont it into the wind and just watch it hover.

and of couse I have a stunt kite with heavy duty lines, just incase
If I drive 10 miles out of town, I'm flying oneway or the other.lol

snacker

Linkadrip,

I learned how to fly and did my solo a few months ago in Marina CA. Close to Monterray. It was non stop strong wind and I'm sure it was at least 10mph. I flew a Nexstar and a Sig Sr Kadet with and O.S. 91. I also soloed my Twist 150 out there with a Saito 180. Wind didn't even seem to affect it. All flew great but the Kadet and Twist were the best.

We did some slope soaring on the beach with my instuctor's glider as well. That was interesting, we could have flown forever out there it seemed like. Or at least till the battery quit.

linkadrip

Very CooL [sm=thumbup.gif] Always wanted to try a Glider and do some slop soring but i have to many planes already. Maybe i will run into somone with a glider and get to give it a shot. I imagine a glider of course would be the best aircraft for high winds. Yet again it may not may get away from ya and at least with an engine i can bring it back to me.

Cool pics

timothy thompson

My Feedback: (1)

i have flown 1/5 warbirds in steady non directional changing wing up to 30 mph with little problem but a gusty 15-20 mph breeze that is switching directions can take the lift out from under you and destroy that same aircraft esp on landing. I have flown pz fighters in 15-20 as they launch easier. Its all about how much experience you have