Maybe this should be in the beginers forum, but here goes. Can someone explain wing loading to me? Why would it apply to us Spadonians? What is good wing loading and what is bad? How is it configured/calculated? I was told that my spads have "Very bad wing loading" He was a really crusty old dude, nd he wouldnt explain to me why he said that. I think all my spads fly excellent. Any pros out there want to teach me a thing or two?

When is a SPAD HELI. going to make it on SPAD Originals? Oh great, do I have to be the first now that I said that?

Wing loading is just the weight of the plane (in ounces) divided by the area of the main wing (in square feet). For example, a DPS wing is about 48" x 12", so 4 square feet. If your DPS weighs 5.5 pounds (88 ounces), you divide that by 4 feet, and you get a wing loading of 22 ounces/ sq.foot.

There's nothing inherently good or bad about wing loading. The lower it is, the slower the plane can fly (and the longer it will glide without power), so trainers typically have lower wing loadings than war birds, for example. A typical balsa trainer has a wing loading in the neighborhood of 16 to 20 oz/square foot, down to something like a SIG Kadet senior that might be 14. Planes designed for 3D acrobatics (crazy stuff that you didn't think airplanes could do, like hover), also have low wing loadings, typically 16 or less.

All things being equal, you probably want to keep your weight down as much as possible, but if your planes fly fine, don't sweat the numbers.

Um...yep! Looking forward to the flight report!

Go to the bottom of this page for a quick tutorial on how to figure wing loading.

http://home.earthlink.net/~plasticwings/spadscale.html

BTW, if you like the way your Spads fly, don't worry what the ignoramasaurus said to you. Every field has one or two, and the species will NEVER go extinct, unfortuneatly. It's amazing that this man apparently has the ability to weigh planes with his eyes! I wish I could do that, it would've saved me the $60 I spent on the digital scale. Also, the original spad designs all have very acceptable wing loadings if built to plan, better than many sport ARF's coming out these days. That's a fact.

Thanks everyone. What would I do without you?