Hmm, I almost put my Edge in the other day because of a high speed pass down wind. Well the wind wasn't near 30 mph, but I was doing a stall turn and decided to dive and make a high speed low fly by. I was coming over some trees so I didn't really have a long stretch to gently pull out of the dive and boy was I high on the stall turn. I dived down with a little bit of throttle and as I started to level the plane out, literally the corner of my eye, caught how close the ground was (totally misjudged me with my altitude). Well I pulled it up barely 4 feet from the ground with the plane running at a hell of a speed. You just heard the people behind me give one big sigh of relieve. If I connected the ground there - there would have been nothing left of the plane - well nothing repairable Would have been 100% pilot error though. Note to self for probably the third time - Never dive with throttle!!!

<div>As a beginner I can&rsquo;t tell you too much about what is too much, but I did find out the hard way that when it is windy (20+ cross wind away from the landing field) it presents other issues. For example, if you end up with a dead stick, and you are at the farthest end of the flying field with not too much altitude to work with, and you are down wind, it is very hard if not impossible to get back to safety. I ended up in the busses because the wind was too strong and the plane could not make forward progress to get in the clear. So I guess the plane really does not know it is windy until you lose power.</div><div></div><div>My instructor took the stick and made a soft landing in the busses with no damage at all, love those pilots.</div><div></div><div>TB</div><div></div>

The topography makes the difference. Have hills and buildings around ? Then expect eddies and turbulence in almost any wind. Live where its flat and there are no obstacles for miles, then it might be smoothas silk , (laminar,) when blowing 30kts.

The type airfoil makes a big difference. Flat bottom airfoils are used on trainers because they allow the airplane to fly slower which gives the student more time to react. But flat bottm airfoils are very sensitive to turbulence.

Symmetrical or semi-symmetrical airfoils handle wind much better. ( buth make for a faster airplane which isn't what the student pilot needs)

The aspect ratio effects performance in the wind. Is the wing long and skinny or short and broad ? Low aspect ratio wings generally perform better in turbulence.

For me I don't mind the wind, but it definately gets old. We get a lot of wind here, so you take what you can get. There's a reason our club is dead every single day (weekends included) after 11:30pm. It's literally me and my buddy out there every afternoon as people are scared of a 10mph wind and go home. For me too much wind is only when the plane doesn't have enough prop speed to move in a forward direction. And yes, I have flown in a 40+mph wind where my plane at full throttle was flying backwards! Landing backwards is just awesome!

For the faint of heart 10mph is about the limit. For the intermediate and those who want to compete in IMAC/pattern events better get used to fact that they're gonna have to fly perfectly in a 20-30mph wind, and CROSSWIND at that speed. Over that it's really just those that have a large visa or take out the beater planes from what I've seen.

Really? Well I'll have to tell my planes that, especiall;y in crosswind landings

One of my rule of thumbs is if I cant taxi with the plane flipping over its too windy. I usually fly at a buddy's home field and its usually just 2 or 3 of us so never more than one plane in the air at a time. Runway points north south so we usually have a bit of a cross breeze. But Pilot can pick which way he wants to take off, but regardless you have to turn the plane to line up. If the wind causes the plane to tip over when I make my turn to line up its generally too windy.

But I also got a very good baptism in fire when it comes to the wind. My the first 2 days of my buddyboxing were quite windy so I got very use to the wind and gusts, my first day up was probably steady 10 mph winds with gusts in the 20-30 range. And as my first time up you learn how to fly the wind well. if you only fly on calm days it can be a shocker how much the wind can toss even heavier 40 size planes around. But the bigger you go the better the plane will fly in the wind. I only had 1 mishap from the wind my second time flying after solo. set in for alanding approach too slow and got hit with a gust cross breeze. because my trainer still had dehedrial in the wing it picked one wing right up and flipped it over in the air 20 ft above the run way. I was going to slow to abort and it piledrived in. after repairing the trainer (and removing the dehedrial) Ive learned how to fly into landings with alittle more power than gliding in when its windy out.

So really no one is the judge but you. we all probably have our own rules of thumb about when its TOO windy. But if your not afraid of a challenge and live some where like me where its a blessing if the winds under 8mph you just gotta learn to live with it and learn to fly in it, otherwise you'll be grounded more often than not. Its nature we have no control over it.

And btw you said you flew your trojan in 25 mph winds, thats the pz foamie right? Probably not more than 3 lbs at flight weight, that thing will get tossed around by the wind much more noticably than a 40 + size nitro plane. weight and speed are your weapon against the wind. just learn from my mistake when its windy you gotta land with alittle more authority. when its calm ill put my planes at idle and glide in. when its windy i'll usually bump the throttle up a few clicks and fly the plane in to the ground, It can be alittle more nerve racking but very satisfying when you grease a landing with a stiff cross breeze!

I think that will be the thing of having a plane which you don't really mind, that much, loosing. You can test your limits with it.

Or one of simple design if it crashes dont be too hasty with the garbage can. most things can be repaired.

I try to stay out of the air if it is over 15mph winds. On average I like to fly when it is between 5-10mph winds

<div>Ok, so today the wind was about 10 to 20, maybe higher with gust to 30. Not your best day for flying. I decided to go and fly with the help of my instructor. He is the one taking off and landing so if he was cool, then so was I. We had the field to ourselves, never can turn down that opportunity. The wind really was not a problem, it was a cross wind coming at us. I found that it really did not mater, it did bounce the plane around on the ground (tipped once) and in the air, but it was totally manageable. I actually found it to be challenging to have to do deferent techniques in my turns, if I was down wind it was more difficult than up wind, so this was good for learning. I will say my plane knew very well that it was windy, but it really comes down to the pilot.</div><div></div><div>TB</div>