Copyright 2001, John Gossett, Austin Texas.
By the time I got to the field and set up my highstart, the wind had freshened considerably, but I've been told that, "if you can't learn to fly in the wind in Texas, you might as well not fly." So I tested the controls, gave it a hand toss test flight then cranked the highlander up on the highstart.
I managed to get five good flights, two flights of which I actually felt like I was in control of the plane. With each flight, the wind got stronger, however, I was feeling pretty confident about my ability to fly in wind because I was doing pretty good so far without any crashes.
Since my fifth flight was the best flight of the day, I decided, "I can manage one more flight." So I stretched rubber, hooked up, wiggled controls and let fly! About a quarter of the way up, I began to panic because the wind was pushing the plane so hard that it stretched the rubber longer and the plane was behind me instead of in front of me! Then, at about half the usual launch height, a really stong gust just blew the highlander right off the highstart and I was flying downwind at about 200' altitude, really fast.
I immediately tried turning the highlander upwind, but it just kept being blown downwind. One of the problems with the highlander is that it has a very tall, flat fuselage, and once it gets the least bit sideways to the wind, it easily gets shoved sideways downwind. It came off sideways and downwind and every time I turned it upwind it kept swinging through giving the other side of the fuselage to shove further downwind.
Can you picture a piece of paper tossed by the wind? That's what my plane looked like. Several times I tried heading toward the ground, but it gained so much speed that it was heading for sure disaster, so I would pull up to save it and once again the wind would fling it further away. I got to see that plane from every aspect, top, bottom, side, and catty-cornered. Within seconds it had crossed a road, dodged a big solitary oak, crossed a field, and my last image was seeing the top of the plane, at full wing span, pointing nose down over the wood thicket on the other side of the field. I let it drop there.
Fourty minutes, an owl fly-by, and lots of thicket scratches later I found the highlander cradled gently and undamaged in the forks of a (thank God) short tree. It took so long because it ended up about 70 yards to the right of where I marked it down. I figured it would be right where I saw the nose pointing, but it must have managed to pull up and glide some more.
I've been out flying twice since then, in the wind, but I am much more conservative about evaluating if there is too much wind. I am taking off from work in an hour because it's sunny and only blowing 10 MPH according to the local (North Austin) forcast. That's the equivalent of dead calm around here! I think I'll practice landing within thirty yards of myself today. I get tired of walking so far to get my plane. Hey! Maybe I'll even catch a thermal!
Copyright 2001, John Gossett, Austin Texas.