Best Wind Airplane

[Paul Taylor]

I know 90% is the pilot but what has been your best performance plane.

I have not flown a lot of planes but so far my (Mike Waldron gifted )Shrike seems to be like a Honey Badger at times. If the air is swirling it gets a bit Squirrley, but that’s probably more pilot than Shrike. 🤪

[Ken Culbertson]

1975 Surveyor.  Fox 40, 625 sq" 48oz.  Flatback back airfoil like today's Pat Johnson designs. Side area was well balanced.  Would "wind fly" in anything over 15.

Ken

[Mike Griffin]

Ted Fancher modified the IMITATION before I released the kit a few years ago with his permission.  Eric Rule did the CAD work
for me.  That model flew very well in the wind and glided like a dream.

Mike

[Dave_Trible]

Always been the Shameless.

[Ken Culbertson]

Always been the Shameless.

That plane just begs to be sent up in a 20mph breeze and fly all day on one short tank. 

Ken

[frank williams]

RingMaster

[Motorman]

Sig Banshee, Brodak Tanager.

[Dan McEntee]

  A lot will have todo with the engine/prop combination. I have had several airplanes powered by ST. G-.51s that were a handful in the wind, true wind that is, not turbulence of a light breeze going through the nearby trees! There is a difference. My fortunes changed when I started to use APC 12.25 X 3.75 props on them and spinning the engines up. That was the first combination that I had ever really felt the effect oof the high  RPM/flatter pitch approach. But the big thing is to know when it's wind or turbulence. NOTHING flies well in turbulence! Ask anyone that has flown at Buder Park when the wind comes through the trees or at the old Garden State Circle Burners flying field. 5 to 10mph straight line wind is easy to work with but sometimes 5mph through the trees can be really nasty!! Flying at SIG Field was a perfect example. If he wind was straight down the runway, I got to where I could comfortably fly in 15 mph + wind. But if the wind was from the east or west rolling over the edge of the runway or coming across the hangers, it could be shear terror at 10mph or above. The L pad at Muncie has it's good and bad wind directions and many of us have been bitten by those over the years..
    Type at you later,
    Dan McEntee

[John Miller]

I always felt that Effflander's (sp) Fire Cracker was a good wind design.

[Dennis Moritz]

Flite Streak. Buster, any of those similar CG models and updates. I had a light weight, 27 ounce, modified Magician, powered by a lowered compression Tower 40. Three thin Tower head gaskets? That flew off the L Pad when half the folks didn't risk it.

[John Park]

I always felt that Effflander's (sp) Fire Cracker was a good wind design.

Eifflaender - of Progress Aero Works (PAW) fame.  The best wind design I've flown (and I mean wind - I live in England!) was GMA's 'English' Peacemaker with a PAW 2.5cc diesel.  Tony Eifflaender said his best Peacemaker was one he'd built to a flying weight of 16 oz. - that must have been in the days when you could still buy good balsa!

[gene poremba]

 smoothie

[GERALD WIMMER]

Hello I like my old Ringmaster with its Enya 45, flies well in the wind and suits our NZ Sportsman (basically beginner pattern) with only rounds and no squares.
Never been crashed but has been recovered and 'de-oiled' from a lot of flying.

Regards Gerald

[Ty Marcucci]

First define "wind".  I read, the night after the last flight in OTS at a VSC, that the Chief was terrible in the winds in Stunt News by Bob Palmer.  He said as a result, he designed the Smoothie.. I had a Smoothie back in 71/72 era when I lived in Pocatello, Idaho The winds the re were no joke and NOTHING could fly in them, especially my Smoothie.  I now take a kite with me.. Winds get too high,I launch my kite and just like Charlie Brown, the winds die.. It has become a standing joke when we fly...
I have fought the wind and won and many times lost a model. I think the answer is "It all depends"....

[john e. holliday]

Guys may argue with me but the Shameless was one I could fly in anything.  Thought I had a contest won until second round when change in judges messed every thing up.  After the round people were coming up to me telling me that second flight was one of the best I had flown.   Time for awards I went from a first to a fourth.  That is when I decided stunt will be flown without getting serious again.  I also flew stunt just to help clubs with entry numbers.  Also never flew stunt at that contest again.

Yes I may have got up on the wrong side of the bed again.

[Curt D Contrata]

The Shrike and Staris are both “sister” models to the Satona.
When we were discussing the winds that were becoming common for the Nats in Muncie, Randy designed the Satona to be a 40 sized piped airplane that could be built under 50 ounces and still present as a large model to the Judges. The Shrike and Staris were drawn up when we returned home from the Nationals in 2002 and released shortly after.

Flying in wind takes lots of practice flying in windy conditions. The placement of maneuvers is critical, as is power, and confidence in your equipment. For me, the smaller/lighter design was easier to manage through the wind.

Curt

[EricV]

The Shrike and Staris are both “sister” models to the Satona.
When we were discussing the winds that were becoming common for the Nats in Muncie, Randy designed the Satona to be a 40 sized piped airplane that could be built under 50 ounces and still present as a large model to the Judges. The Shrike and Staris were drawn up when we returned home from the Nationals in 2002 and released shortly after.

Flying in wind takes lots of practice flying in windy conditions. The placement of maneuvers is critical, as is power, and confidence in your equipment. For me, the smaller/lighter design was easier to manage through the wind.

Curt

I have to concur with Curt & Randy's idea, my PA40 Piped plane (not the UL Ultra Light 40, regular full size PA40) based on a Shrike is a great wind plane. The size seems easier to hang onto and the motor run is slightly different too, even though its a pipe, the little 40 seems like its more prone to be always "on" than the larger motors, with less break, with less reserve to enhance unwanted wind-up, it makes the wind seem less of an issue (at least when set up correctly per Randy). That and the lighter 40 planes probably tend to balance less forward which is another good thing in the wind. At least those are this duffer's thoughts anyway.

EricV

[dave siegler]

The best airplane in the wind is your airplane, not my airplane. 

[dennyleo]

smoothie

While judging stunt, I've watched some experienced flyers put up incredibly consistent flights in awful winds with a Smoothie.

Dennis