I went out to two model flying fields today and not a single person was there. Thunderstorms last night, clearing after noon, winds gusting to about 30kts, and variable. Sky overcast.
My skywalker almost took off while stationary on the ground whilst setting it up, and almost got flipped side into the wind just sitting there.
Shall I go for first test flight? Yes... no.... yes.... no.... yes! no one around to laugh at me crash.
Power on, into the wind, didn't use enough rudder to counteract yaw from full power, plane now just off the ground, yawing left, now side onto wind, wing getting pushed over, crap crap crap, almost crapping myself, engage stablize (I know I should be testing this at altitude!), and bang! wings level, straight and level cross wind, back off more throttle, bit of elevator, flare, land. Perfect crosswind landing!
Thank you APM
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Stabilize mode is great !
Ok it wasn't gusting to 30Kts, the TAF for our local airport was 16Kts gusting to 26Kts, in otherwords, I would have been nervous landing a real aircraft with 16 to 26kts crosswind (max crosswind for a C172 is 15kts).
Love it! Thanks for the great flight report.