cold weather flying, Risks!!!

[Daz(DJLFlapper)]

Hello guys and gals,

I thought that even if this has been meantioned before it deserved a write on again. This winter dispite it not being the coldest I have been through I have seen more accidents due to the affect of cold on our beloved heli's than usual.
Plastic parts get very brittle when cold and even if you seem to do all the right things pre flight check wise your heli can still appear to have a failier when flown in the cold. It appears that you dont have to have a crash to have a break. A hard landing can cause a micro crack, One that you wouldn't even know about and probably wouldn't even notice if you looked at it. combine this with the cold making the heli plastics going brittle and you have things like mainrotors departing with the body.

most smaller and lower end heli's have lots of plastic parts on them and if you plan on flying in the cold just be aware that you should prepare for light landings and really inspect the heli if you should have a hard landing in the cold. Better still if it is cold enough for you to feel it don't fly, I gave up flying in the cold myself. I have been aware of the increase in people joining this great hobby and unfortunatly the incidence of cold weather failier for heli's has gone up allso from what I have seen and heard.

Fly safe and have fun.

[hawkman]

I have seen a failure on a fixed wing model.....it was a summers day of all things.....guy flew real high and fast.....swooped down and landed and 'ping' one of the UC struts gave way....we all felt the broken part....totally ice cold!!! we were all amazed.

I find cold weather is good for the engines though. Better lift as well.

Have you ever seen blades icing up? I have seen photos and thats all....seems that if you get the right amount of humidity and low temp then icing will happen.

Rob

[Daz(DJLFlapper)]

The only time I have seen Ice in blades is flying in the winter whilst it is snowing and then your heli gets pretty ansy/unflyable quick. I have never seen this in normal weather or at normal times of the year for flying.