Got up early this morning (alarm went off at 6 am), to go flying.
Why would I get up THAT early, on a Saturday, to go flying, some of you might ask?
Simple. I live in San Diego. San Diego is in the state of California, and California is experiencing a heat wave right now. While it was only 90ish today, it was also 90ish with 70% humidity, 20 mi. inland, away from the coast. It was that sticky humidity that those of you in the south are used to during the summer, but we folk in drier climates just suffer through.
So, I figured that at 7ish in the morning, I'd be able to fly with no problems, that it would be cool enough and comfortable to fly. I was correct - for about half an hour. Then it started to warm up, and the paper started peeling off of the foam board on my Versa Wing, due to the moisture. I thought, "Ok, done with flying that one..." because I wanted to bring it home somewhat in one piece, so I decided to try and fly my quadcopter instead.
I started ripping around the field with my FPV gear on, cruising and generally having no issues whatsoever - until someone came in with their panel van and parked in the parking lot, near our drone course. The panel van blocked the tiny bit of breeze that was blowing over by the course, and I started to SWELTER. I finally gave up and came home around 9:30-10 am...I was actually trying to buzz myself with my quad so I could feel downdraft from the rotors, just to cool off a bit - NEVER a good thing. It was just too flippin' hot, and I decided (probably smartly) to stop before I overheated (or my parts overheated and shorted out).
Good rule of thumb - it's probably not a good idea to fly if you've got sweat running into your eyes. Either you're going to crash and ruin something, you're going to have heat issues with your body, or you're going to have heat problems with your electronics - none of it is a good thing.
Why would I get up THAT early, on a Saturday, to go flying, some of you might ask?
Simple. I live in San Diego. San Diego is in the state of California, and California is experiencing a heat wave right now. While it was only 90ish today, it was also 90ish with 70% humidity, 20 mi. inland, away from the coast. It was that sticky humidity that those of you in the south are used to during the summer, but we folk in drier climates just suffer through.
So, I figured that at 7ish in the morning, I'd be able to fly with no problems, that it would be cool enough and comfortable to fly. I was correct - for about half an hour. Then it started to warm up, and the paper started peeling off of the foam board on my Versa Wing, due to the moisture. I thought, "Ok, done with flying that one..." because I wanted to bring it home somewhat in one piece, so I decided to try and fly my quadcopter instead.
I started ripping around the field with my FPV gear on, cruising and generally having no issues whatsoever - until someone came in with their panel van and parked in the parking lot, near our drone course. The panel van blocked the tiny bit of breeze that was blowing over by the course, and I started to SWELTER. I finally gave up and came home around 9:30-10 am...I was actually trying to buzz myself with my quad so I could feel downdraft from the rotors, just to cool off a bit - NEVER a good thing. It was just too flippin' hot, and I decided (probably smartly) to stop before I overheated (or my parts overheated and shorted out).
Good rule of thumb - it's probably not a good idea to fly if you've got sweat running into your eyes. Either you're going to crash and ruin something, you're going to have heat issues with your body, or you're going to have heat problems with your electronics - none of it is a good thing.