Winds of Fear

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I never thought where I live that I would say we had too much wind for me to attempt a top speed flight but, we are having TOO much now. Just as I started typing this we had a 38mph gust. The actual problem is this wind is a sustained wind which is a constant blowing of wind which now is between 15-20mph. So because of that amount of sustained wind, it makes it nearly impossible to have a return flight. I told my wife in order to take advantage of this high mph wind, you would only be able to launch up and fly with it and then hope you could stop enough before getting out of range and set it down. You may have to even crash down to get it down. Regardless, this wind is too violent and scary. Forecast is for 45-50mph gust.

I calibrated my compass and thought I would just go up high enough to clear my house. I get up to my usual 1st staging altitude which is in the 60ft range, and as soon as I hit the mark it was dragging my quad towards my house at a pretty fast rate. So I instantly began to bring it back down which was a chore. Other then a tip over at landing I managed to get it back to earth. :)

So I'm sure several other members will be chiming in today about this wind in the middle and eastcoast area. I'm still hoping to catch more favorable winds on the other side of this mess.
 
I had to cancel a scheduled flight at a site today because of the winds. Too bad, because temps are supposed to rise today to near 70F degrees. Tomorrow should be a little calmer.
 
Last time I was in sustained 50 mph, it was a microburst during a squall. The wind noise was an almost alien whine and trees were getting uprooted one by one in front of my eyes. One guy's windsurfer rig catapulted by without ever touching the ground and then wrapped around a lamp post, obliterating mast and boom. On the pictures we'd taken, the place looked like a war zone. 50 mph is insane.
 
flyNfrank said:
I never thought where I live that I would say we had too much wind for me to attempt a top speed flight but, we are having TOO much now. Just as I started typing this we had a 38mph gust. The actual problem is this wind is a sustained wind which is a constant blowing of wind which now is between 15-20mph. So because of that amount of sustained wind, it makes it nearly impossible to have a return flight. I told my wife in order to take advantage of this high mph wind, you would only be able to launch up and fly with it and then hope you could stop enough before getting out of range and set it down. You may have to even crash down to get it down. Regardless, this wind is too violent and scary. Forecast is for 45-50mph gust.

I calibrated my compass and thought I would just go up high enough to clear my house. I get up to my usual 1st staging altitude which is in the 60ft range, and as soon as I hit the mark it was dragging my quad towards my house at a pretty fast rate. So I instantly began to bring it back down which was a chore. Other then a tip over at landing I managed to get it back to earth. :)

So I'm sure several other members will be chiming in today about this wind in the middle and eastcoast area. I'm still hoping to catch more favorable winds on the other side of this mess.

Winds do look a little heavy up there in Lafayette at the Edinburgh/Sterling intersection.


http://www.wunderground.com/weather-for ... yette.html
 
This was 100% throttle every part of the flight. I even had a little prop wash take place at one point. I left it in GPS mode rather then switching to ATTI. And the reason for that is when going to ATTI against the wind, it drops altitude quicker and you have to lift off throttle so it will recover some altitude again. And of coarse you end up drifting back the wrong direction putting you back where you started. Now had I been threatened from a low battery I would have went to ATTI and got it to home point.

Look at the pretty cool gauges!!!!!!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrOam_J-o-E[/youtube]
 

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