Not sure why I feel I need to justify this to you, but here goes. Weather.com on Sept 31 at Cherry Creek State Park in Denver CO said wind gusts above 40mph. Our club is in the middle of a field next to a lake.

This is the only historical data I could find on wind conditions in an area close to Cherry Creek State Park. The wind will be lower in Centennial, CO since it's a suburb of Denver. But you'll get the idea of the wind speed we had in the city on this day. I have no reason to doubt that weather.com's 40mph + gust readings at our club were false on that day.

http://www.wunderground.com/history/...q_statename=NA

Surely it is not just wind strength, but wind gusts and even more importantly the changes of direction as the wind blows that have to be considered when deciding whether to fly on a windy day.  In my experiences seldom does the wind come from a steady direction, one moment you can be flying directly into the wind and the next the wind is coming side on to the plane.  I have also found this often while sailing, the constant change in wind direction of up to 30 or 40 compass points is the norm rather than the exception.

If the wind was at a constant speed and from a constant direction flying in windy coditions would not be a great issue, but wind is not like that , in windy conditions I stay at home and my planes live to fly another day.

And that's probably why some claims seem unrealistic.

There are 3 clubs in my area. At one of them, it'll be almost deserted when that 10-15mph hits. Higher than that and nobody there for sure. It has trees about 40' from one side of the strip, about 150' from one end, about 80' along the other side and a clearing off the other end. Nobody there flying, that is. It's a club, after all. My favorite of the 3 has no trees or anything other than the shelters within about 300 ft and that's only in a couple of directions. And the strip sits on the top of a gentle hill that drops away in every direction. So the trees in the distance grow from lower ground. (They still eat a model every so often, as you'd expect.) It's really no problem there most windy days when the wind isn't coming over the shelters as long as the wind's speeds are less than your airplane's.

BTW, I have a hand held recording anemometer. It's great fun. It'll actually read out lots of other "very useful" information and even show graphs that'd entrance a nuclear physissyst (or any other of them smart types). Heck, it'll even give you a Density Altitude, and if you've ever wanted a better BS generator............ well, you get the picture.

I've been accused of preaching "model airplanes", and one of my sermons is about the way wind speed cycles. Very, very often the wind will blow awhile and let up awhile. If you've ever flown the LSF slope endurance flights required for most of the levels, you'd know that as Gospel. And if you're ever out flying with me on a windy day, you're very apt to see my little orange doo-dad's screen showing the timing of the wind speed's cycles.

Anyway, lot's of people who fear not the wind know a trick. While the wind is blowing hardest, fuel and fiddle. About the time you have run out of things to do, crank up and take off. There's a good chance that during your flight, the wind will drop. If it matters to you, then come on in. Lot's of times however, if you've paid attention you might have spotted one of those days with relatively laminar wind. Those days picking the best time to land isn't so important.

And if you believe all that...............

But hey, if you don't, I got this handheld gadget that..............................

I've flown my Big Stick .60 in winds up to and around 30+ MPH. ( I have a wind meter so I'm NOT overestimating. ).

Above that, only a steady wind is doable, and there is no way that I would even attempt to fly it @ 40 MPH.

At 40 MPH things feel like a gale.

Even at 30, it is almost impossible to keep the plane from weathervaning on the ground or even KEEPING it on the ground... but you CAN fly and land the plane with these velocities if the wind is along your runway.

I've purposely loaded mine down with 4000mAh NiMH batteries to make it penetrate high winds better.

Hello all,

Thought I'd share some "windy" pics from this morning at Wolcott International Airport in Wolcott Colorado...

Gary hovering next to the wind sock and our "official sign"

high wind is cool, chatfields a good place for it the run ways are brandnew

Guys (and Gals),
IMHO I do not believe that high wind flying is something that I would blindly suggest to a beginning RC pilot. While our planes aerodynamically mimic their full scale cousins the conditions in which we fly affect each one differently. Most small (real)aircraft are definitely effected by the wind and to that extent flying in extreme weather is HIGHLY discouraged. Keep in mind too that a 20mph wind is exponentially harder for a model aircraft than a real plane. I have no apprehension of flying in windy conditions but I will steer away from high gusty conditions. Downdrafts, on landing will smash an RC model ( and in some cases the real thing) quicker than you can react. I would rather spend my time working in my workshop on extreme windy days instead of asking for a crash! Besides, it's hard to pick up balsa and monokote pieces on a windy day.

Happy Flying!

Loopman [:-]

Glad that this post is here. Flew today with two different planes. wind was maybe 15-20 mph. flew my nexstar select nitro plane and had my hands full. Just for fun, I threw up my super cub and had a blast with it! Turned it into the wind and got it to hover. It was a blast! What i noticed was the cub was more stable than the big trainer. thought it would be the other way around. Hope there is some wind tomorrow. going to fly that cub again!

James