Summer-what summer....? How much flying are you getting in?

well it looks like the summer is once again going to be a none event....this year we have had longer than usual strong winds....and the forecasters are saying we are going to have another 10 years of unsettled weather! ...... i wonder how this is affecting the model trade....as not much flying must be having a knock on effect....to sales.....

ken anderson ne..1 ........summer dept.

How about learning to fly in the wind just like real pilots do.

Ken...Should we all now consider buying a kite???

Andrew

Some models handle the wind better than others. If all you have are small light weight models you are sometimes just out of luck

Greybeard

Any pilot, real or otherwise can fly in the wind, a dignified landing on the other hand is an alltogether different kettle of flying fish. I've seen plenty of "real" pilots having some somewhat sudden arrivals in windy conditions. As stated above a lot depends on what you fly and whether you're happy to replace it if the worst happens. discresion can sometimes be the greater part of valour.

Having said that, living in Scotland, if I didn't have a model I could fly in the wind I wouln't get much flying done.

Alwyn

They cant even forecast the weekend weather properly most of the time never mind ten years ! I wouldnt worry about it

Edited By Codename-John on 28/06/2013 21:04:00

As a newbie, can I ask, specifically, which models are good in windy weather. No flying wings, please. Many thanks for any advice.

Ian

My model yacht has been pretty good this year in the wind. I also find it doesn't affect my cars much either .

Seriously I find my Wot 4 comfortable to fly whatever mother nature decides to send our way.

Andy

Hangar 9 Ultra Stick will handle most conditions.

Especially if you have the 4 servo wing setup. I used to have great fun hovering mine in the wind with the crow breaks deployed.

Edited By Phil 9 on 28/06/2013 22:20:23

So true the met office website is not reliable at all your better looking out of the window or flipping a coin

I'm astonished how well a pushycat handles a windy and gusty day. It has the speed to cope with wind, and yet doesn't seem to get thrown around by gusts. Remarkably stable. I'll fly mine way beyond the wind conditions where I decide not to risk my Wot4.

I have an ARTF wot4 and I think it's lighter than a built up one. Flying it in the wind is not an issue. Getting it down can be interesting....

Also... Perhaps another way of answering the question; "what models are good in windy weather" is... Models you are not too worried about! When my foamy wot 4 was very battered.. I'd check it up in almost any condition!

Thanks Andy, Tom, Phil and Graham. I was a bit wary of raising this hoary old question yet again, but I'm stuck. I'll explain briefly -

From reading through the forum, and seeing one fly on a seriously windy/gusty day, I bought a Wot 4 Mk 3 kit and decided to convert it to electric. However, I underestimated the extent of my back problem and am finding it very difficult to spend any time at my workbench. Therefore, I'm looking for an ARF electric hack-type model which will handle a strong gusty wind and give me some flying time whilst I take forever building my Wot 4.

Unfortunately, Hangar 9's Ultra Stick appears to be i.c. only so I'm afraid its a no-go.

So, any further recommendations, preferably based around Purple Power's PPPO 5055-580 motor ( equivelant to Eflite Power 46 or 52 ) though not essential, would be very gratefully received.

Graham - is a pushycat the same as Hobbyking's Sniper?

Thanks,again, everyone

Ian

I still do not enjoy flying in windy conditions as much even though I have become more competent at it. I think it is because you need to react to the model more rather you telling the model what to do

The problems with flying when it’s windy as I see it are:

The model bouncing around in air turbulence:

The difference between the into wind ground speed and that when the model is going down wind:

Landing the wee beast.

Turbulence tends to be a factor of your flying site so if you can’t find a smoother site you have to settle for what you have and try not to over control your model in an effort to get a smooth flight, live with the bouncing.

Provided your model can make reasonable headway into the wind then you have to get used to the variations in the ground speed, which can be a challenge but is satisfying to master.

Landing approaches have to be much steeper in a strong wind with good throttle control to keep the air speed up and fly the model onto – rather than into – the ground. Models fitted with trike undercarriages with a slightly lower nose leg are much easier to handle on the ground in a wind than tail draggers which may want to go flying again as the tail settles.

I think expecting one model to handle all weather conditions is optimistic but most 60 inch span or larger models fitted with a top end of the range engine will do so. Increased model weight only results in a faster flying model with a narrower speed range.

we fly off the cliff's/hill's etc........sometimes in winds of 60 mph.......back to the original question/post....... i imagine with the not very nice weather that a lot of local field/club flyer's aren't getting as much flying as they would wish and.....hence the knock on effect to the trade......

ken anderson ne..1 knock on effect dept.

Edited By ken anderson. on 29/06/2013 09:06:46

Oops! Sorry to semi hi-jack your thread, ken. I wonder if any traders notice a corelation between periods of bad weather and sales. For instance, in addition to potentially reduced overall sales, do they notice an increase in kit sales when punters are resigned to less flying and more building.

But to carry on in a similar vein, if there were, say, a small group of go-to models for when the winds were high, which included all types, ie small foamies, big foamies, warbirds, powered gliders, ic, electric etc etc so that all tastes were catered for, wouldn't we all go out and buy the model from that group that we fancied, in order to keep flying, even when it was windy.

I'm sure the trade would be better off if we all were able to buy a model that kept us in the air more often, rather than giving up and sitting at home. Otherwise, if the 10 year forecast is correct, then I think the future is going to be a bit bleak for both trade and customers alike.

So to go back to my question ( sorry ken ) - any recommendations, please?

Ian

How about starting a new thread for recommendations of suitable models for windy conditions, Ian? - there's plenty of discussion in that subject and it's dragged this one, which is about the effect on trading, rather off-topic......

Pete

As a buyer I am not really worried about the effect on the trade. There is always much talk about supporting the LMS but in many areas there is already no local shop. Many people like me are pretty much reliant on the internet to buy kit. That maybe a short sighted viewpoint but with less good flying days available due to weather I do wonder will I get value from buying new models that may just end up sitting in the shed most of the time