| As far as a 15 mph wind , that IS a 'wind' and not a ' light breeze' | as some will call it. I hear guys talking quite often about that 25 | , 30 or 40 mph wind they flew in yesterday or last week. I don't | think any intend to lie about it , but many people tend to | exaggerate it.
40 mph is a LOT of wind. It's also great fun if you have an appropriate slope and slope planes to fly there, but I probably wouldn't go flying anything that wasn't made of foam, and I probably wouldn't fly in it unless I was slope flying.
| I carry a little wind meter in my field box which is pretty accurate | and many times those 15-20 mph winds are actually 4-5 mph.
Well, don't forget the wind gradient. If the wind is 5 mph at six feet, it may be 10 or 15 mph at 30 feet up (the exact difference depends mostly on your terrain) and may go higher even higher.
And because of this wind gradient, flying in the wind IS somewhat different, even to the plane, than flying when there is no wind. People like to rant about the `myth of the downwind turn' and such, and while it is mostly just a perceptual issue, there are some real things that might affect your plane under certain conditions. And of course, people who say `flying in the wind is no different' are also assuming that the wind speed is constant (which it rarely is -- gusts, lulls and direction changes happen often) and are ignoring the turbulence that is usually there. But your airplane won't ignore these things ...
| BTW , 15 knots is the maximum recommended cross wind for take off and | landing a full scale Cessna 172. I don't like even a 10 knot | crosswind. I like it nice and smooth. :-)
Of course, now you're talking apples and oranges. Not only is a knot
15% more than a mph, but you're also talking about a crosswind -- that Cessna can probably safely take off and land in winds a lot stronger than that with no crosswind. And as for models, you usually don't have to do a proper crosswind landing or takeoff if you don't want to
-- just do it on the grass. (There are some exceptions, of course -- a paved runway, and a plane that can't go on grass.)
| I love to fly RC in the wind myself , but it does require an airplane | that will handle it , and , most importantly , a lot of practice.
To be more specific, you need a plane that has a top speed faster than the wind speed (because if it's not, you'll lose the plane downwind, no matter what you do), you'll need lots of control authority to cope with the turbulence kicked up by the wind, and you'll need big cajones to actually fly in a big wind -- either that, or a good amount of skill, or a plane that can survive crashes.
High wing loading tends to give you a plane that is faster and it also tends to get buffetted less by turbulence, which it's why it's suggested that you fly such a plane in the wind.
| Flying in the wind can open up a lot of fun possibilties after you get | the experience.
In some places, not being willing to fly in the wind means you're not flying, ever.
| I still rememember when my son was young....10-12 years old , when we | would get to the field and the wind was blowing he would say , | "Hurry up Dad, get my airplane together before the wind stops | blowing". He's now 30 and a very good flyer. Still loves the wind. :-)
If you're in a windy, hilly place, get something like your typical Zagi (foam flying wing) and fly it. It'll help you become quite adept at flying in heavy winds with lots of turbulence and the like. It's also a blast! But beware -- flying a plane that is undamaged by crashes tends to make you lazy (no need to bother with a formal landing -- just smack it down) and reckless (`hey -- watch this!'), so be sure to put yourself back into the right frame of mind when you fly your more fragile planes.
It's funny how you can go slope flying all day, and end up with not a single real landing -- just a bunch of crashes (or maybe just one!) (That probably didn't hurt your plane if you're flying the usual flying wing.)