Flying with falling snow - What happens when you hit a tree at 90mph!!

[Tony H]

Hi Guys,

I've just got in from a crazy day of flying in on an off snow flurrys, all was going well although I did find the engine was getting harder to start at 1*C, I was having to richen the mix quite a bit. I had a few decent flights although the cold dense air seems to make your plane feel slow and draggy.

On my last flight I was flying as fast as possible out of a dive heading towards me, I could see the plane clearly about 50ft above the ground, when there was a very hard cracking sound as I hit a thick branch of a tall tree! the plane changed rapidly into just shards of balsa (lucky it was one of my old ARTFs), the balsa flew everywhere.

I think it was a optical illusion it looked like I was infront of the trees but actually I flew straight through them from behind them. Still the the engine and electrics all survived.

[Mowerman]

Depth perception is a problem for me in clear weather, a couple of times I have thought i was past the wall around our site only to see the model disapear then hear a bang as the model hits the other side of the wall

[Frank Skilbeck]

Posted by Tony H on 23/02/2013 16:17:34:

........ the cold dense air seems to make your plane feel slow and draggy.

Not just the plane

[Tony H]

I don't think it was just the plane, the air is more dense in cold weather and the engines use more fuel and seem to produce less power (from my experience).

They seem to run better above 5*C

Edited By Tony H on 23/02/2013 16:47:03

[Ultymate]

hate to tell you but internal combustion engines produce more power with a cold dense charge of ingoing air particularly if it has a high moisture content. Ever heard of water injection ?

[Eamonn Fahey]

It's nothing to do with depth perception. At this time of the year, especially on cold days like to-day, the trees jump up and down to keep warm.

[Ben B]

In cold weather engines actually produce more power. The air intake is denser hence the need to richen the engine. The problem is the thicker airleading to increased drag. Ps- shame about the plane- flew through a tree myself once. It's a wierd feeling because suddenly your perception has to readjust to where the plane actually is!

[Ben B]

Ulty- you beat me to it. Must learn to type faster on my mobile

[Tony H]

I think Eamonn has hit the nail on the head! Can't blame them really.

Maybe I was just too used to the plane and thought it was slower than it was when I was flying it in the summer. I have been flying much faster planes recently

[kevin b]

"It's nothing to do with depth perception. At this time of the year, especially on cold days like to-day, the trees jump up and down to keep warm."

Over here in North Yorkshire they just shiver, shake and complain a lot, but they do have a tendancy to grab out at nice warm ic engines. You're better off flying electric as they can't hear the high frequencies when their ears are covered in snow.

kevinb interactive flora & fauna dept.

Edited By kevin b on 23/02/2013 17:08:33

[David Ashby - Moderator]

No surprise that I've removed some of the 'near the knuckle' comments here. PM's sent.

 

 

Edited By David Ashby - RCME on 24/02/2013 09:55:46

[Tony H]

Spoil sport lol