Bill Wrote: >Just a word of caution about flying in the winter. We've flown in >temperatures so cold here around Chicago that the radio commands from the >transmitter just freeze and fall to the ground before they reach the >receiver. This can cause problems in two ways. One, your plane is out of >control. This alone should discourage the feint of heart. Bill, we fly in V-E-R-Y cold weather up here (below zero Farenheit) and we never had this problem. The solution is keep the transmitter warm. We usually put the transmitter in an insulated bag (transmitter mit) and when it is very cold we put a chemical hand warmer in the bag. It seems that by keeping the transmitter warm enough the radio commands can reach the plane without freezing (remember they travel at the speed of light). >Two, in the spring >if you happen to be flying when a batch of these commands thaw, look out! >They can shoot you down without warning! This phenomenon accounts for what >appears to be rustiness at the gimbals, and is responsible for many early >season crashes. At best they can cause some hair raising aerobatic displays, >and only luck decides whether or not your plane survives. So go ahead, fly in >the winter. Just don't say you weren't warned. We never observed this problem over here. A friend of mine who happens to be chemist explained me that frozen radio commands probably simply gets dissolved in water formed by thawing snow in the spring. Seriously: we dont have any particular radio or battery problems flying in very cold weather. Shrink covering seems to be more fragile but not enough to cause problems to hinges made of covering (Monokote, Ultrakote, etc). You can see winter flying photos on my web site (not for the faint of heart). You will notice that the snow is deep enough so we must wear snowshoes. -- Louis Cimon [EMAIL PROTECTED] 141 rue Mistral www.mediom.qc.ca/~lcimon/glider.htm Beauport, QC tel : (418)664-1023 Canada G1E 5V4 RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
