View Single Post
Old 05-03-2011, 01:01 AM   #7
wolfewinde
Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Clearwater, Florida
Posts: 537
Thanked 33 Times in 32 Posts
Club: Largo Flying Club
iTrader: (0)
Friends: (4)
Default

Wind has some potentially nasty side effects.

Your air speed changes dramatically based on which way the plane is going vs the wind.

Sitting on the ground not moving, pointed into a 15 mph wind, you are already going 15 mph. Pointed away from the wind you are going -15 mph, pointed to either side, you are going zero.

So as you try to fly a circle at a constant speed, your actual air speed keeps changing with a 30 mph overall swing.

Handling changes as the air speed changes

That much variation keeps you really busy just trying to stay in the air and not have your plane blown away. You can be in real trouble if the plane gets downwind from you.
wolfewinde is offline  
  Reply With Quote
 
Page generated in 0.12439 seconds with 17 queries