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[Motorman]

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[Tim Wescott]

Mine's not as bad, but it's similar.  I don't cope well with a strong, steady wind because I only see it when I'm out and about rather than at either my "home" field or the next-closest one.

Dunno a good answer, other than to look for something better.

[Dave_Trible]

The original circle in Topeka was known for its demons in certain weather- other times it was great.  Mostly had to do with wind rolling over and through a tree line on the west side.  Sometimes wind streamers on each side of the circle would be blowing 180 degrees from each other.  Many airplane ghosts reside there, including a few of mine.  One 'demon' could snatch you from normal level flight straight down to pancake in the pavement.  Another might produce a snap roll.  In later years some big bushes near the circle were removed and it was better. 
Our new circle in Shawnee is only a bear when an east wind is blowing in off the corn field across the road.  That's not often.

Dave

[Jim Carter]

  To quote the young people "I'm feelin' ya'!! "    But look at it this way .... learning the skills at your field will qualify you for the "Advanced Expert Master's" class in no time ..... if they ever create one   

[Fredvon4]

MM

Fortunately my flying site is very wide open so no induced turbulence or obstacles...BUT

on any give session of flying the wind can shift significantly and I seem too unskilled to detect this change... Very aggravating to think all is good... enter a planned wing over and pow... Zero line tension... comical antics follow but most of the time a waste of time....

After I stop giggling, go inspect the crash scene, do a post crash analysis, and drag it all back to Moe... he and I have stern words...ass hole could have warned me...

I think I am going to enhance Moe a bit despite his objection...He is going to gain a Bicycle 2 meter FG Flag staff and ribbon ... Moe is a stuborn heavy weigh who argues too much... so I think his ribbon will be Pink

[Robert Zambelli]

Does anyone else fly at a field that is evil? Ive got so many unpredictable mini tornados that change with wind direction I can't do a stunt without some kind of wacky thing happening. It's hard to develop any consistency when you're flying in a washer machine. When there's light wind the trees block it sometimes so I get dead air effect or a gust sometimes, it's crazy. Different places on the circle have different problems. I compensate best I can but when I get to a field that has perfect air I have all these little glitches, mostly over controlling at the end of the stunt because you're gun shy on a down drafts.

MM

MM - where exactly is your field?
Bob Z.

[Motorman]

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[peabody]

Most that have flown there will agree that the GSCB field, on Two Bridges Road, has about the nastiest air imaginable.....
Have fun!

[Phil Spillman]

Until I moved to Virginia I thought that PA had the worst flying sites available! Now I am not too sure of that at all! If one can learn to fly in VA one should be able to fly anywhere! Here our club field is nestled in the crotch of two tree lines! One moment the wind is blowing from here to there , the next its blowing from over there to not quite here! In short be alert and ready to compensate eg react to save your gear! Never mind the pattern just keep the plane from self destructing!

Since I had major foot surgery on 1-6-17 I haven't been allowed to drive much less fly- seven procedures on my right foot! Just got a super zoot Cam Boot which has enabled me to get around without my four wheeled kneel on "tricycle"! I am seriously thinking about getting my wife to take me flying this Thursday!

Phil Spillman

[Pat Chewning]

Every field I fly at, my plane does weird-shaped stunts. 

[john e. holliday]

I've lost count how many different fields I have flown at especially here in the KC area.    Dallas has an elevated railroad track that wakes you up when the wind is from the east.  Yes, Topeka's Gag Park had trees on North and West sides.  There were times when wind was coming from East you did your maneuvers on the east side.  They now have a new field that is so much better.  At our new field David is trying to keep usable is great when the wind is from the south.  But I have flown there even when the grain has not been harvested with no problems.  But each and every circle has problems of some sort or other.  Nothing like flying at a Wichita contest when the wind is blowing no matter the direction.  Even our National Flying  Site has quirks.

[Steve Helmick]

Difficult to impossible to do any trimming on such fields. That can cause you difficulty when you go fly elsewhere. I can't think of a site I've been to in Oregon, BC, or Washington that isn't difficult with one wind direction or another. That's just how it goes, I reckon.  Steve

[Randy Cuberly]

Difficult to impossible to do any trimming on such fields. That can cause you difficulty when you go fly elsewhere. I can't think of a site I've been to in Oregon, BC, or Washington that isn't difficult with one wind direction or another. That's just how it goes, I reckon.  Steve

Our field in Tucson is very much like that!  The "normal wind direction is typically from the southeast.  However sometimes in the afternoos it shifts to the Northwest and becomes nearly unflyable except for the best with very well trimmed airplanes.  Not fun.  Fortunately it doesn't happen very often!

Most "bad air" on fields I've flown on is caused by turbulence from trees or buildings etc..  Large trees cause especially bad turbulence when the wind velocity gets above 10-12 MPH.

All that said, I watched Paul Walker fly and trim an airplane that seemed un-flyable at first in really nasty air something in the neighborhood of 15 mph and very turbulent at our field several days in a row at the end of last week...So I guess all it takes is incredible skill!!!  The man has it!

Randy Cuberly

Randy Cuberly

[Scott Richlen]

Phil:

Our east circle has a tube set into the ground in its center for a speed post (or whatever they call it.)  Maybe we can mount a pole in it and tie your butt to a big roller bearing mounted on it so you can fly without hindrance...

(I do hope you heal fast, that can't be fun)

[rich gorrill]

Anyone who has flown at Neshaminy State Park, home field of the Philly Flyers can attest to the crazy winds that can happen there. Many a good stunt ship has been lost to the crazy overhead swirls that can happen there.

[Brett Buck]

I have flown at a lot of different places, and most of them have their challenges, but the worst has been  (and forgive me for saying it) the Dayton, Ohio site.  There were/are 50-100' trees on two sides of the circle, and when the wind blows over them, it's nearly impossible. That's the site where I *folded my stabilizer in inverted level flight* trying to keep from crashing it. And at the time I was far from a "duffer", I had flown legitimate 500 point flights by then. It was a very long time ago.

    Everybody complains about the various sites (Whittier Narrows in particular but Napa, too) and usually whines about Muncie. Muncie is hands-down the *easiest* place we fly on a regular basis. In 2015 there were visible waves in the soybean leaves most of the day, and a bunch of people were whining about it. Not only was it flyable, it was (as Paul Walker later put it) "scoring weather". I was hoping it would pick up another 5 mph.

     Brett

[Andre Ming]

Every field I fly at, my plane does weird-shaped stunts. 

LOL!!  What he said!

[Will Hinton]

i gotta give an "Amen" to Brett's comment on Dayton!  Was in the middle of the clover when my ship just whipped level and flew across the circle right above my head by around 30 feet!  The air had been good enough previous to that for me to still score a 500 in spite of the unscheduled cross country foray!  (I saved the beast.)
Dayton is "interesting" at the very least.  But they do a wonderful job of running a first class event and the chow is great.

[Bernard Suhamski]

I Must agree with Peabody.... I have flown at many of contest along the east coast, and GSCB two bridge rd. field is a REAL EDUCATION!!!!! But the guys there are wonderful!!!! Excuse me for a little advertising, as I hope to see you all at My Contest in Hazleton, Pa. July 1st and 2nd... ( The Jennifer P Memorial Contest ) ..... Happy Flying!!!!!!!

[JoeJust]

I have flown Carrier at Brodak's off and on since 2011. I also have videos of almost every Carrier flight during those mentioned years.  My good friend and I (Marc Warwashana) both agree, and one can see it on the videos, there is what Mark and I call the "BLACK HOLE OF BRODAK'S! Numerous times when a slow moving ship gets about 3/4 of the way around the circle it simply drops a good 4-5 feet. If he plane is not above that height when moving through that area it simply drops like a dead duck.
Joe
PS  even at that, the contest at Brodak's is by far the best competition site to enter  in the U. S.

[Jerry Haupt]

Dayton is my home practice field so when I get to Muncie I feel like I'm in Stunt heaven. The good thing is that the trees on the south side are beginning to die out so with age it is getting better. Don't let this keep you from coming to our contest because we have (2) of the nicest paved circles in the country and the Buzzin Buzzards do run a great contest.

[Fredvon4]

Another thought MM--- as it seems to me most here can relate to flying in a tornado ally washing machine, so you are not alone

But few her noted your specific problem (same as me) about just trying to get some practice flights in and learn the damned tricks ...without fighting Ma nature

It took me a bit of observation and experience to see this......but some days I know how my local Wx works and when natural Lulls are in the wind...

as long as I am under a large Low or High pressure zone that is NOT changing...

when we are covered by a area wide Low, I plan afternoon before sunset flights... under a area wide High pressure zone I fly early morning before sun heat starts moving the air a lot

This works for me... right here.... But I am still unskilled enough that a gust can and does screw me up badly

The up side is...I am getting a lot of building and re-building experience...

OH yes...I am now 100% top stunt champion in Lampasas Texas for every (( in my mind) contest championship))

My only detractor and critic is Moe and I try not to listen to that butt head

[Will Hinton]

Dayton is my home practice field so when I get to Muncie I feel like I'm in Stunt heaven. The good thing is that the trees on the south side are beginning to die out so with age it is getting better. Don't let this keep you from coming to our contest because we have (2) of the nicest paved circles in the country and the Buzzin Buzzards do run a great contest.

AMEN!!!

[Brett Buck]

Dayton is my home practice field so when I get to Muncie I feel like I'm in Stunt heaven. The good thing is that the trees on the south side are beginning to die out so with age it is getting better. Don't let this keep you from coming to our contest because we have (2) of the nicest paved circles in the country and the Buzzin Buzzards do run a great contest.

      Same was true (the latter) even in 1983, if it wasn't for the many problems I had, it was a great contest with a great bunch of guys. I only flew once at the old site that was in town, and it wasn't nearly as nice.

     I looked on Google Street View and it looked like the trees on the northwest side are not the same and much smaller than before.  Along the fence line, they were 50 feet tall and very dense. The trees to the southwest, along the river, look about the same as they were.

       The stab folded as I was on northwest side of the circle, when I had to peg the controls to keep it from crashing. The airplane was bouncing up and down by 3-4 feet with no control input, and the background was so dark that my black airplane was darn near invisible.

      Brett

[Les McDonald]

Are you guys talking about the same Dayton field that I remember from the mid seventies?
Next to a river with a power plant somewhere nearby.
I swear Wynn Paul told me that field had been built over.

[Dan Berry]

I fly a lot of Free Flight and I sort of fly Control Line Stunt.
I would point out that thermal activity seems to get confused with wind. Some places have very turbulent thermals which have nothing to with the wind or rotor turbulence.

[Eric Viglione]

All true... most "small" fields have those issues because of encroachment of tree's, buildings, berms, etc. That was one thing I always looked forward to at Whitehouse ALF when the KOI was there, was that long runway with room for as many circles as there was pilots, and the silky smooth clean air. Most pilots could fly and feel confident in 12-18mph there, and the veterans would fly up to 25mph + and still be ok... when at home you could barely feel safe in anything nearing 10mph.

Our field has what I call directional limits with minimums and maximums. Coming over the trees, up to 7mph is fine, over that, and there is a wicked down wash and your overheads are dicey or your inverted pass in front of the tree line can keep you on your toes. Blowing towards the trees, below 10mph is fine, but much over 12mph and it curls back and creates a vacuum that likes to suck planes out of the air. I wont do an hourglass to the left of the tree line when the wind is blowing there over 12mph, the back down-leg just gets so light you have no choice but to start to pull out early or risk planting the plane. Taking a step back during the down-leg helps, but it is still unnerving to lose line tension right before you need to pull out. I could go on, but you get the idea. This is where getting to know your home field in various conditions helps. On what I call bad days, most people I think would be better served just flying an old profile or combat ship, just to learn the ropes, rather than risking their best stunter or staying home, which I see a lot who think those are the only two choices.

I have heard some minor grumbles about circle 1 at Muncie when the wind comes up from the low side, but I always thought people were joking, because it is SO MUCH BETTER even on circle 1 than anywhere else I get to fly normally all year. The biggest issue for me the first time in Muncie was acclimating to no visual references immediately outside the circle. Without a horizon or fence or tree line to clue me into when to pull out, my first RWO was at like 2ft! (then the rest were at 10ft until I calmed down. LOL!) That is when I was shown how it is better to fly off your body or shoulder height than rely on visuals.

EricV

[Jerry Haupt]

One of the problems practicing on circles with unpredictable winds like Dayton is that we usually fly 7 ft. bottoms just to protect our equipment and then get to a contest or the Nats and adjusting to correct bottoms does not come easy. I lost a plane last year in practice on an outside square and at the bottom the wind just drove it right into the ground. We also find ourselves flying maneuvers 180 degrees from where we started at the beginning of the flight.

[Jerry Haupt]

Les
The old field next to the river has an office building on it now. The City of Dayton Parks dept. built us a new facility in a really nice park with (2) paved circles and (1) grass circle. The RC club is next to us and a lake for the RC boat guys. It is about 5 miles north of the old complex.

[Les McDonald]

Thank you Mr Jerry!

[Terry Caron]

I'm surprised Ty Marcucci hasn't mentioned his cure for wind.
He carries a small (12ish") kite in his van - wind comes up, up goes the kite and the wind goes away.
I can only guess the Wind Gods hate kites more than C/L planes - I watched it work several times at our RM Fly-in.