Straight back is probably best, with two possible exceptions. If you are having trouble seeing the plane, or controlling its pitch attitude, you may see this better if you come back at a bit of an angle. As long as the angle is not very large you won't lose all that much. Also, lift may be easier to detect if the plane is at a bit of an angle. But if seeing is not a problem, and there are no expected lift sources away from the line of flight, then coming straight back is probably best. The sailboat case is completely irrelevant unless you have large winglets, a skeg, and are comfortable flying very low. (If you're a real pessimist, there's always the theory of flying over the pasture instead of the swamp, river, and cornfield.) Bill wrote: > You find yourself way down wind and way high up with an unballasted plane > and gotta head back into a moderate head wind. You can head directly into > the wind on a straight line back or you can tack back and forth like a > sailboat against the wind. Time is not an issue. Which technique will get > you closer to home with minimal loss of altitude?
-- Lincoln Ross RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
