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As your flying experience increases, so do your wind limitations. Flying in higher winds can be very tricky at times. Never over extend your wind limitations. Wind can be one of your worst enemies in the powered parachute, as it can be in most ultralights. The powered parachute has a maximum of 26 mph so a wind of 20 mph will put you in the position of only having six mph forward speed and a 30 mph wind will make you land backwards. Since this is difficult, if not impossible, you have to carefully observe local weather conditions before you fly. Observing the weather forecast and checking with other pilots can save you much time and effort. The air may be beautiful for flying now, but if the forecast is for high winds, you can believe that the wind will blow. A safe margin is to fly in no higher than 15 mph winds. That will give you a 10 mph margin of safety.
The wind sock tells you the direction and velocity of the wind only at ground level. The winds aloft can be from a different direction and velocity. Find the local aviation weather forecast before flying. Calling the local airport should get you this information. Remember that the winds change constantly and you may be flying along having a perfectly nice time only to discover that your actual speed and direction is backwards to the direction you wish to go.
The air that you fly in is invisible. Unlike water where you can see the direction of flow and estimate the speed or gauge the amount of roughness, the air around us doesn’t allow us to do that. The windsock lets us see the direction of the wind and allows us to gauge its speed only at ground level. While in the air there is no way to guess where the wind is coming from or the speed. While flying in a straight line you can look at the ground and to some extent gauge the direction of the wind by how much you have to adjust your flight direction to keep heading in the right direction. Your true ground speed can be guessed by gauging how fast you are going in relation to the ground. If you are flying in a 15 mph wind (the maximum recommended speed) and flying into the wind, the 25 mph forward speed combined with the 15 mph head wind will give you 10 mph true ground speed. If you turn 180 degrees and fly with the wind then the 25 mph forward speed combined with the 15 mph tailwind will give you 40 mph ground speed! If you start out flying down wind with a full tank of gas and then turn around to head back you may not make it. |
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