Surfing the Wind

Flight Date: 16Feb2009

Conditions
Equipment: (Super Cub- Stock Plane and Electronics)
WX: ~14mph, Temp ~40F
Ground Conditions: Visible ground
Field: (large Soccer / Baseball Field)

Flight Summary
Overall flights were good. I had one nose in landing the first flight due to wind. I didn't gain altitude fast enough and lost control. This resulted in my first broken prop. Everything else was intact.

I had to fly full throttle into the wind to make progress. At first I the elevator was flat and the plane was trying to climb too much and was hard to control. I added a little down elevator (1 or 2 clicks) and the plane would then make steady forward progress and was much easier to control.

I had 2 nice landings into the wind and a couple hard landings.

Things I learned from these flights
In windy conditions, use down elevator trim to stabilize the plan and allow it to make forward progress at high throttle. Convert thrust to ground speed instead of elevation.

Damage
Broken Prop ~$3.50

Stats
Cumulative Flights: 12
Cumulative Hrs: 2.4
Successful Landings: 10
$ to date: $195.5