The Wind

The wind continues to blow this year. Yeah, I know I am located in the bottom end of the Great Plains and it is always blowing in the great plains. But it was not this way for years, or it seems it was that way. Maybe I am more sensitive or something.

The wind either blows directly, well mostly directly, out of the South or the North. Right now it is out of the South and blowing about 15 knots which is the extreme upper limit for RC flying. RC - radio control - is a combine hobby and sport. It is a challenge to get everything running and charged up, right fuel and correct trim to get a radio control airplane to handle okay. Sure you can fly it in a lot of wind, especially if it is on the bigger side and is trimmed up pretty good. Flying in the wind is not a problem.

Taking off can be hazardous if a gust comes along while you are in the midst of it. But the smart thing is not to tary on the ground, gun it and go, I say. Get it off the ground fast and in the air. Once in the air it is easier to control. The last stage is landing, that's another matter.

Landing requires the reduction in power (hence harder to control), integrating a reduced speed with a reduction in altitude and to place or land it in a specific location like the runway. Easy as it sounds it isn't easy, it requires a lot of actions, some subtle and some massive to get there. Gusty winds just complicates the problem.

Consider that when you start down the approach to the runway, the airplane is flying at you. When it is almost on the ground it typically is abreast of you. And when it touches down it is moving away from you. You have to move the sticks on your transmitter to make the appropriate inputs to get all this done, with reduced speed, reduce altitude (say that as safe altitude above the ground). After a while it becomes automatic but even then one can over control and get into real trouble. So then add a cross wind gust or something like your hat getting blow off at the critical moment. Landing, in my humble opinion, is the toughest maneuver in radio control!

But don't let me deter you. Once you master most of the ins and outs, you get pretty good at it. But I have seen the best of the best make crappy landings. The old saw, "Any landing you can walk away from is a good one," applies here. Except any landing in which you model airplane is not damaged is a "good one."

The other old saw is "Altitude above you and runway behind you," also applies. At lot times we make "number nine" maneuvers where the nose of the model impacts the earth. We refer to that as "rekitting" your model. That is not landing, that is a crash. Usually, one can reconstruct his or her airplane at least once, after that, it becomes more of challenge.