If its raining lightly outside....is it alright to fly my plane if I waterproof the reciever and battery? anything else? Servos?

What about lightening? You never know when that stuff will pop up. On the other hand, wouldn't that be kind a like fishing in the rain?

True there is aways lighting.

Rain can get inside your Tx through the sticks and short it out.

Not my favorite activity standing outdoors in a storm with a lightening rod in my hands.

John

Ofcourse not a storm........Talking about light rain like spring showers.

I wouldn't risk it. Too many things can go wrong if the rx/tx get wet and short.

Think also that if you lose control of your plane you're endangering not only your self but also Innocent people, even people outside the flying field, that aren't aware of the crazy plane flying toward them, and you will be liable for what happen.

As long as water can't get in to your radio TX or onboard flight gear, and water can't get to some balsa or foam on the airframe and soak it, and putting aside the obvious dangers of lightning, yes, you can fly in the rain. Been there, done that.

Be careful with the engine and fuel though, fuel likes to soak up water from the air, and landing in a puddle can mean water in the engine which can mean rust in the engine.

Oh, and if you think the "long walk" sucks on a normal day, I can tell you, it's a lot less fun in the rain.

Oh, one last thought. Some rain clouds can be a LOT lower than you think they are. It is actually surprisingly easy to get yourself in to an out-of-sight situation in the rain, so keep it in close.

Thanks Montague ....exactly the answer I was looking for.

So does that mean you weren't going to accept anyone's answers until you got the one you wanted?

Just kidding. There ARE a number of issues to deal with but, I was at a Scalemasters Qualifier this past weekend (one of the static judges) and we had to put in a few flights in light rain in order to ensure an official competition.

If these guys, with their scaled out planes (some with 1000 hours into them), were willing to fly in light rain, I'd guess you can.
Dennis-

Oh, I did forget to mention that I don't fly in the rain on a regular basis. The only reason I fly in the rain is when I HAVE to.

More than once, I was due to leave town to travel to a combat contest. So I HAD to get a test flight on my new planes before leaving town. So it was either fly in the rain, or not have enough planes for the contest. So, I guess you could say that if I managed my time better, built my airplanes farther in advance, and broke less of the in combat, I wouldn't be flying in the rain

So, like Dennis sort of pointed out, I think you'll find competition pilots are more likely to fly in the rain than other guys, simply because somtimes it sucks a lot more to call things off than to get a little wet.

And that really IS the truth of it.

I honestly don't fly in the rain unless it's necessary either. I don't feel it's worth the risk of damage to my equipment.

However, all that has been pointed out to you, and if you're okay with the risk, go fly.
Dennis-

Although I've never flown in rain, I DID have a plane become invisible in low hanging fog right after takeoff. The fog was lower than I had thought (about 80 feet AGL), and real thick. Brought it right back down without incident and waited for the fog to burn off.

That was probably the shortest flight I've ever had... Maybe 20 seconds