When is it too windy to row
Tips for RC plane flying in strong winds
whiteboard died McGee and everyone loves
whiteboard videos here's another one the
equinox is coming the that's the
transition between summer and winter or
winter and summer it's the time of year
when the length of daylight hours is
about the same as the length of
nighttime hours so it's also the time of
day when weather systems start warming
up we have the the the warm and the cold
start mixing we start getting some
really powerful weather systems which
means wind lots and lots and lots of
wind about this time of year it's called
the equinoctial gales and some people
just prefer to sit inside and watch the
trees wave around but me no no I
actually prefer to go flying and today
on the whiteboard I want to talk about
flying in wind because it is for some
people one of the scariest things they
ever do but for people like myself it's
one of the most fun things to do now
flying in wind you might be would be
dangerous but tricky but difficult no
it's it's not actually it's a lot of
myths about flying and wind I'm trying
to spell some of those myths today and
i'ma show you some of the basics of how
to fly safely and wind without Rick in
your model and without endangering other
people so here are some basics tips did
start with a first step the first thing
is your choice of the model you need to
choose a suitable model if you've never
flown in strong winds before if you want
to get used to and learn how to fly in
strong winds you need to choose a model
that's suitable that means probably not
a Spitfire not an EDF jet not a biplane
you want something that's simple
something like an ax n or a Bixler or
something like the if it is super easy
which is my choice for this particular
video you want a model that is
predictable that has a wide reasonably
wide speed range has a good power of
weight ratio and something that you've
flown quite a bit before something you
feel comfortable flying because flying
is strong winds especially if this
tubulin surround can really test your
flying skills but it's like everything
the more if it something requires the
more reward the more fun the more
pleasure you get from doing it nets
we're flying in wind is so good right so
you need to choose the right model right
moral choice and I don't mean Claudia
Schaffer or whatever her name is Choi
said his book choice today is pellet so
number one model choice choose the right
model and that will go a long way
towards ensuring that you're flying on
winter successful now the next thing is
number two check your model flying in
the wind can put a lot of stress on the
airframe because you get things wrong
things happen a lot more quickly you may
find yourself pulling more G's and you
may find yourself let's face it
crashing it's going to happen you're
gonna crash so you need to check the
model make sure the linkages are secure
make sure that the the wing is firmly
mounted if it's oh and I recommend a
conventional layout model for learning
to fly flying wings is not so much fun
they get thrown around more for a start
they till gets thrown around around a
lot in strong winds it's a conventional
layout like an ax in AB X or if it me
super easy whatever much better choice
but check the model make sure there's no
linkage is about to pop off make sure
the hinges are secure so you're not
gonna lose an aileron or an elevator
with obviously unfortunate results and
make sure the wiring is good so you want
to be able to rely on this model you
don't want unexpected things happening
just at the moment you most need full
control so check your model right
next thing is check your flying area
number three flying area is important
why is it important because there are
two aspects to flying and strong when
the first thing is you're gonna have
wind okay wind is easy to handle wind is
not a problem turbulence is a problem
hariom so let's assume that you are out
here here's a flat field here's you and
don't I draw you world ego and here is
your model let's draw a little plane
here the wing and a propeller and wheels
Matt preps there you go you've got a lot
of wind blowing along here that's fine
because believe it or not once your
model leaves the crate once it leaves
your grip or the ground it doesn't know
there's any wind it really doesn't know
there's any wind once the model has left
the ground wind no longer exists because
all relative I'll talk about that a
little bit more later but these your
model flying great if it's a steady
constant breeze it's piece of cake
pace okay but what often accompanies
strong wind is turbulence and that is
really far more exciting far more
difficult far more fun to fly and so if
you're just learning you don't want the
turbulence you want a nice steady breeze
you can cope with it very easily so you
want to make sure if you
to fly in a strong wind stay away from
things like houses trees or anything
else that's going to cause the wind to
become turbulent and gusty because
that'll make your flying experience much
more difficult so you want to stay away
from these things you want a nice open
expanse with nothing upwind of you if
you can avoid it that gives you a clear
understood if flow easy to fly and even
a strongest one makes it much easier so
there you go flying area is important
also you want to look downwind take a
look at the winds come this way take a
look down this way because if you do
lose control of your model and he gets
blown downwind where's it going to end
up you don't want it disappearing in
over a busy road or something so you
need to have an area that gives you
enough room to get a model down if you
decide well it's got too far away I need
to dump it dump it in a safe area so
your choice of flying spaces until
you're really good at flying when a
strong wind becomes a little more
restrictive you're got to make sure you
choose the safe options and these are
the safe options there you go now
assuming assuming you've got all that
sorted the next thing is what you need
to do is your basic flight procedures
the first thing is flying in a strong
wind you want to get your model off the
ground or out of the launch as quickly
as possible you don't want to Delia
around near the ground because the
ground is the only thing that's gonna
break your model so the sooner you get
away from it the safer you're going to
be which means if you're flying
something with wheels take off climb
reasonably steeply don't risk a stall
but fly steeply upwards so you got a bit
of separation you've got a few mistakes
of altitude because altitude is your
friend you make a mistake you've got
time to recover if you're flying at 10
feet and you make a mistake
you've only got time to pick up the
pieces so you want to climb quickly so
from the takeoff
you want to climb quickly there you go
get up get some safety get some safe
altitude under you and that gives you
more room to move now I'm gonna draw a
picture here we are here are you I'm
gonna look down on your head here we go
that's you here there's your feet
well here's your transmitter so we're
looking down onto you this your head
press looks a bit better and here's the
wind direction that's blowing this way
right so here comes the wind now here's
your model let's put your model down
there's propeller you take off into the
wind always take off into the wind
directly into the wind if you take off
with a crosswind your model might tip
over on take off or if you're launching
it may get caught by the wind and
flipped into the ground so always take
off directly into the prevailing wind
and that means that you you'll be much
more stable out of the launch of the
take off product so take off now the
next really important thing I cannot
emphasize this too much because I've
seen so many people get into trouble is
imagine a line along here right your
course
I know I've crashed much my markup in
you always want to be flying upwind of
this line you do not want to fly back
over your head you want to be upwind and
preferably you know quite a way upwind
and why would you do that well I've just
mentioned being a few mistakes hi they
say got room to recover if you make a
mistake now one of the problems that
most people face at some stages they
might get disoriented put a wrong
control input in and with us if you're
flying on a calm day it's not that much
of a problem because the model you know
you just recover it and keep flying but
if you're flying in a really strong wind
and you're up here and you make a
mistake
it only takes a very short period of
time for the wind to blow the model
right back over your head and then it's
behind you and then you're in trouble
because if you still can't get
orientation it's just going to get blown
further and further away until it
disappears or you dump it on the ground
so stay upwind so if you make a mistake
because you get disoriented it's just
gonna blow the model closer to you so
you get a better look at it it gives you
a more chance to make a recovery and
keep flying
so always fly in front of yourself into
the wind never behind yourself and that
can involve initially if it's a strong
wind you might find that you don't
actually have to do any circus takeoff
and you can just fly to the right to the
left to the
if to the right so you can do an East
you can fly Anna and it is pattern and
because you've got the wind constantly
bringing you back
you'll fly in front of yourself even
though you're going from side to side
and forwards you'll end up sitting in
roughly the same piece of airspace it
gives you time to get familiar with how
the models handling in the wind and get
a feel for it get the nerves to we're
off because it is quite nervous the
first few times so you get rid of your
nerves that's fine now if you want to
fly a circuit and I recommend you do
left and right in silicates to get used
to it then again don't fly around
yourself fly up then fly back around
like that
so you're still always in front of
yourself always in front of that magical
line
so if you make a mistake here and I went
the wrong way and you come back you're
still going to be in fronting that's
going to blow the model towards you if
you fly around a circuit like this and
you make mistake here you might end up
way back over there because the winds
blown you so we stay in front of the
magic line absolutely important so I
recommend that you do figure eight so
you fly around there then come around
and do a figure eight that way and just
you know get again get familiar with the
model to see how it handles and then
gives you plenty of wiggle room your two
mistakes hi and your a mistake or two
upwind and then the mistakes won't
matter quite so much and now I want to
talk about a few of the myths there are
a lot of myths involved and flying them
when one of them is the fear of a
downwind to know people who say if
you're flying into the wind and you turn
down when do you risk stalling the model
may stall because suddenly it doesn't
have the same amount of wind going over
the wings which is utter rubbish excuse
my french
it's utter bullcrap know the model as I
said earlier on doesn't know it's flying
in wind if you think about what wind is
imagine the model is flying around in a
circle
when does simply the fact that the
ground is moving underneath it the
ground is moving in a general direction
the airflow is constant apart from
turbulence so the model is if you fly in
a in a full-size aircraft once it leaves
the ground you don't know there's wind
apart from a little turbulence you don't
know which way the winds blowing unless
you look out there and and work out
which way the your general drifters once
you're in the air the only thing that
moves relative is the ground and and
when there's no such thing as stalling
on a downwind because the wind is so
strong what happens is what tends to
happen is that if there is a lot of wind
it's a the winds coming this way like so
and your model is flying into the wind
just accuse it that's a crappy - excuse
for a model isn't it you're flying into
the wind like this okay the model will
appear to be flying quite slowly because
obviously the wind is coming right so
the ground speed will be lower than the
air speed so flying in a normal air
speed the model will have quite a low
ground speed with a strong wind so
you'll be flying up here and you might
think I'm going to turn back downwind
and then what happens the reason that
sometimes people tend to stall their
models when they turn downwind is
nothing to do with the the
wouldn't blowing over the wing or
anything like that what happens is here
you might have a ground speed so your
airspeed is a hundred kilometers an hour
but it's a 50k wind okay that means if
you subtract the wind speed from the
from the ESP you get a ground speed so
this is ear speed you get a ground speed
of 50 ground speed so the model appears
to be traveling at 50 kilometers an hour
okay because well that's traveling at
100 K through the air the wind is 50 K
so it looks like it's flying quite
slowly now when you do this turn here
suddenly the model is going to
accelerate quite a bit because you have
100 K of air speed plus 50 K of wind
speed so now you're going to be doing
150 kilometers an hour relative to the
ground so the natural tendency when
people see that if they're flying in
wind they're flying slowly into the wind
they do a turn the model speeds up
nothing oh so they cut the throttle and
pull on the elevator to slow down and
that's when bad things happen because
the model itself is traveling the
exactly the same air speed as far as
it's considered it hasn't changed speed
it hasn't changed speed but when you try
to slow it down to the same speed you
were doing into the wind suddenly if you
want this to do 50 kilometres an hour
going downwind then you've got 50 K wind
it will stall and fall out the sky
because they'll have no air speed so you
need to realize you need to appreciate
that wouldn't model Goes Down when it's
going to travel much faster than when
it's traveling into the wind so don't be
surprised when it starts speeding up
down wind and don't try and compensate
for it don't try and slow the model down
or you'll stall it because you'll run
out of air speed hope this so
understandable but yeah and that's why
some people when they fly and they tune
down wind and hold on the elevator to
slow the model down it stalls and falls
over the ground and what death what they
mistakenly think is gosh it's stalled
because now the wind is blowing behind
and there's not much when flying over
the wing nothing to do with it you've
slowed the model down to the point where
it stalls so that's why I recommend
doing those circuits in front of you to
get a feel for how fast the model is
going to go up and down wind and don't
play around the elevator too much just
keep it level don't try and slow it down
and keep a constant
fawful sitting don't try and slow the
model down on the downwind leg or you do
risk stalling and again that's why I say
use a nice predictable model if you've
got something like the FMS super easy
they don't really stall they just mush
and you'll be able to see well what's
going on I've got it's getting all
wobbly there's no control response but
it's not falling out of the sky so
something with a nice constant cord wing
really relatively lightly loaded now
some people do say if you're going to
fly on wind you gotta put ballast in
you're gonna make a heavy model flies
better and wind not true not true it's
been my experience that heavy models
because they stall at a higher speed or
actually sometimes harder to fly and win
because people will pull back on the
elevator as it speeds up and because
it's a heavy model it stalls a high
speed force out the sky so a nice
lightly loaded model that's flying in a
wind speed which is less than its
maximum speed can be flown quite easily
and it's less likely to have this
problem so don't let people fool you
into thinking that wind fixed the model
once it's in the air there's no effect
whatsoever
now one skill you should have before you
start flying in strong winds is the
ability to fly towards yourself line of
sight
a lot of people you know are not really
comfortable flying towards themselves
they gotta think about which way do I
push the stick to correct it you know
turbulence or whatever you need to be
able to do that without thinking you
need to have that sort of wired into
your brain so keep flying keep flying
keep flying until you don't even have to
think twice about which way to push the
stick when flying toward yourself and
that is because you're gonna have to fly
towards yourself to land it's you can't
get around that you always have to fly
towards yourself to land if you want to
land within close proximity to yourself
so in that respect wind you know
depending on what you've got upstream I
had the houses and the trees you're
gonna have some turbulence even on a
perfectly flat field you're still gonna
have a bit of turbulence and why is that
well it's because here's the ground and
here's the wind and because of the
roughness of the ground you're going to
get a thing called wind here so the the
one near a ground is much slower than
the wind up here the higher you go the
stronger the wind because down here the
ground is slowing it down it's actually
getting dragged from the ground so you
might have might have say 10 kilometres
an hour here you might have 15 here you
might have 20 there so as you come down
the wind speeds gonna drop it's gonna
drop
but what happens here is because you've
got these layers of air sliding you do
tend to end up with
a little bit of rolling turbulence like
this the because this is going faster at
this opportunist to roll around guns
release so you will get turbulence near
the ground
you know generally speaking it's not bad
on in wide open space but you will get
rid of turbulence that means on approach
your model is gonna be wiggly wobbly and
you have to be able to correct that
immediately don't you can't wait and
think now which way do I push that stick
because by the time you've worked that
out it models upside down on the ground
so practice on calm days flying towards
yourself get really used to it mike has
an incredibly valuable skill but
speaking also of this wind shear now
you've got your model flying along you
need to approach with a fair amount of
speed on know I've been airspeed not
ground speed airspeed the model needs to
be flying quite comfortably not right on
the stall because let's imagine your
model stalls at a certain speed and say
you up here
here's your model and if you're flying
it say you're flying it 15 kilometres
above the stall speed right great and
you're looking at it from the ground and
it's moving a certain right let's find
your 20 K of wind blowing over the thing
so you've got five K X s over stall beer
right if the model was even if it was
just sitting motionless as you come down
however the wind speed drops so if your
model is traveling at the same speed
relative to the ground it's actually
flying slower through the year because
the wind is lower sorry I'm facing the
wrong way
this should be the propeller and this
should be the tail the gun that's why
right as you come down the wind drops so
the air speed of your model will drop if
the ground speed remains the same so
expect as you come in for the model to
actually pick up a bit of ground speed
because it's going through
listen list went and if you try and keep
it at the same speed then when you get
to here you may find that suddenly it's
actually below the stall speed and it
will just fall onto the ground again
it's all about judging that difference
between ground speed and air speed
that's just down to practice you just
gonna practice one thing as I said you
are going to have rough landings when
you learn to fly in the wind it's gonna
happen that's why you choose a model
that's robust and resilient like the axe
in or some other similar trainer my FM
is super easy he said so many
topsy-turvy landings and apart from the
occasional broken prop and a bit hot
glue she's good as gold so you gotta
appreciate that don't do this with you
best model don't do it with your $5,000
scales
you know chorus Cal Spitfire some
no choose an old model you can you've
been flying for years and you know how
it flies and then when you dork it when
it ends up no space in the ground you're
not gonna cry about it but you've
learned something along the way so there
you go be aware of the wind shear and
which means as you get close to the
ground you have to speed the model up
relative to the ground to keep it flying
if you try and hold it at the same speed
it could stall and fall on the ground
simple stuff so those are the basic
things to be aware of and that's really
yet when it comes to flying in the wind
just keep your common sense about you
one other issue which I should raises or
just go back or just change
jump cut here we are back at the magic
line scenario winds coming this way is
the magic line what's going to happen at
some stage is you are going to lose
control you're going to make a mistake
and even though you're one mistake
upwind you might make two mistakes in a
row which means the model will suddenly
disappear over your head and be downwind
here right and facing and hitting the
wrong way so it's going downwind at
quite a bit of speed because it's the
flying speed plus the wind speed and so
you're gonna do something then you
couldn't decide what you're gonna do if
you are lucky you'll be able to spin
around turn it round into the wind and
fly back but that doesn't always happen
sometimes you get a bit flustered or the
model it's a gray day and the models
hard to orient and suddenly you realize
things are going wrong it's just going
further and further downwind and it's
getting a smaller and smaller speck in
the distance you have to make a decision
at that stage what do I do most people
unfortunately will fight the model all
the way to the horizon and it will
disappear and you'll never see it again
because you're thinking oh I could just
get it back I can just get it back not
always a wise move I recommend to people
once you can no longer tell which way
the model is going just cut the throttle
and let it land because all you're doing
is increasing the distance you have to
walk and making it harder and harder to
find the model if you can no longer tell
whether it's coming or going you are
never going to fly that model back so
cut your losses put it on the ground so
once the model starts appearing is a
little dumber yeah well before the
improver ibly as far as when it's
further away than you want to walk land
it and even if there just needs cutting
the throttle and getting it glide
whichever works going it's better than
you know having it disappear miles and
miles away
most people who fly and when at some
stage you've lost a model because they
just haven't been able to bring themself
to admit that they can no longer fly
them all it's too far away
important point if you want to keep your
models be prepared to buy Oh be prepared
just to cut the throttle
let it guide which again choice of model
you want a model that's got some
stability if you have a EDF a4 Skyhawk
or something and you cut the throttle
and you can't tell which way it's going
it's going to crash but if you have if
it miss super easy and you cut the
throttle will glide gently to the ground
and again choosing your flying area is
important because as long as there's
just grassy fields there nothing's going
to happen if it's gliding gently onto a
freeway or a motorway but then things
will happen so that's why I say one of
the first things check your flying your
you make sure you're flying in a safe
area there you go I think that's about
it
for what is perhaps a complex subject
but once you get the hang of it trust me
you will look forward to the equinoctial
gales every year because it is some of
the best fun you can have any pants on
it's like the turbulence you're going to
be right on the sticks you've got a
thing and when you do it it's such a
buzz to have flown a model and I've
flown models in in winds which are
possibly only 5 to 10 kilometers now
slower than the maximum speed of the
model so it takes forever to make
doesn't send to the wind then you do
those downwind passers whoa really fast
those the throws you can't get any other
way and it's cheap cheap cheapest model
and you can have a ball of fun in the
relatively small area because sometimes
you can take off you can do an entire
flight without making a turn if the wind
is close to the flying speed of the
model you can back it in for a landing
that's the only time you don't have to
be able to fly towards yourself if the
winds strong enough you can fly upwind
and you can just basically slow the
model down and bring it down and then
descend and land in front of you I've
done that many times it's a real buzz
doing this so there you go that's it
questions comments in the usual place
please I'll do my best to answer them
comments especially because I'd like to
hear what other people have felt about
flying and strong winds do you like it
do you hate it do you just sit out the
equinox or do you really and the
wonderful fun that can be heared from
flying lightweight models in strong
winds there you go thanks for watching
stay tuned bye for now
stay on the grass they don't break a
prop these days inverted takeoffs don't
work Neil
we've tried nice
Tyko frog sounds good
I came in this way
