invertedthoughts

Let's say you seal up the canopy nice and tight so the electronics don't get wet and you have your transmitter and hands in a plastic bag or some such thing. Is it just plain stupid to try and glide in the rain?Other than the water vs. electric thing and of course the low ceiling and decreased visibility.


Anything else wrong with it?

AMA-69405

My Feedback: (22)

Aside from the fact it's typically going to be really poor soaring conditions (usually not much lift about while it's raining!), the bird is typically going to fly like crap. Relatively speaking, a lot of extra weight in the form of raindrops will be present on the plane. And those same drops tend tomess up aerodynamics to boot... again, they're relatively large in comparison to the airfoil, and with a glider you're typically not flying fast enough to keep them from just sitting there and disrupting airflow.

evan-RCU

I've had rain come in while sloping and not come down. My site is a small hike up a hill so I'm getting wet either way.

No issues flying at all, as long as the wind blew it flew and the wind increased with the rain line. FYI water itself is not conductive, it'usually minerals and stuff in the water and I would think rain water would be fairly mineral free. I just hold my tranny over my head... But if it's a real down pour I'll land and leave and if there's lightning I am outa there....

BMatthews

I had to put in a last flight of the day when it was beginning to rain. I stuck it out and finished the 15 minute flight and had no trouble finding lift ON THAT DAY despite 10-10 cloud cover for the whole day. So even on cloudy days you get thermals. But not ALL cloudy days. So if you're brave or crazy enough to do this I think you'll get the same sort of thermal conditions you'd get on any other sort of days where some days you find lift and on others there's nothing out there at all. It's just a case of being willing to get you, the model and the highstart wet.

Water is also going to leak in through the most amazing places. Such as wing rod openings at the joints in the wing and tail rod openings if you use a stabilator instead of a regular elevator. And don't forget the pushrods. So you'd need to seal the model pretty well to avoid some water entry. Even to the point of using model boat pushrod rubber seals to keep the water out.

shmeared

Rain-x works like a treat on your paint and makes the water bead off , good on your car windscreen too.

thailazer

I fly glo powered RC occasionally in the rain during the monsoon season here with no problems. With heavier rain, I have had the engine sputter a few times, but never had it kill the engine. I can't always tell if it will rain before leaving for the flying field so even if it is raining when I get there, I will try to fly since it's a 30 minute drive. Should be no problem for soaring as long as you can maintain visual contact with your ship.

tkilwein

Fly in the rain or snow with the raydiowarmer tx glove.
Rain has not bothered the electric motors-speed controls so far, just dry the motor when done or rust starts forming.
Make sure you have all seams seamed and no opening directly into the rain as above.
Enjoy the entire field as you will most likely be it out there.

wind junkie

My Feedback: (1)

Me too. It was in Utah 1995 and the lift was killer so I really didn't want to stop flying. No lightning in sight so I kept on. I could see rain coming down right in front of me and then going up the slope. It felt like a good portion of that was going up my nose! [X(]

The plane handled it fine though. It was a FG PSS bird with no real way for water to get inside unless it was really dunked under water for a long time.

As others have said, often a larger issue is just being able to see the plane. In my case I just kept it out front until the wind blew the water drops off my shades and the sun came out again.