RCaero FlyCast: A Better Time to Fly
A little tool for planning RC flights. Check wind, gusts and the sun’s position in your flying zone, and find a better time to head to the field.
Before heading out with our RC planes, we always end up asking the same questions. What is the wind doing? How strong are the gusts? Can we go now, or would it be better to wait a couple of hours?
And then there is the sun.
Even on a calm, dry day, flying towards a low sun can make it difficult to keep track of the airplane. The weather forecast might look promising, but where the sun sits relative to the part of the sky where you fly can make a big difference.
So we built a little tool to bring those things together.
Choose your flying site, check the next few hours and move the sun across the sky. See when the weather and sunlight line up for your next flight.
FlyCast shows the current conditions and an hourly forecast for your flying site: wind, gusts, precipitation and temperature, together with the sun’s elevation. A simple GOOD / SO-SO / DON'T FLY rating helps you compare the hours, and the tool looks for the best remaining flying window.
The part we particularly wanted was Pilot View. It shows your flying zone, the sun’s position and its path across the sky for that date. Move the time slider and you can see when the sun will enter your flying zone, drop lower, or move out of the way. Its position is calculated for the location and date, so the changing seasons are part of the picture too.
You can choose a flying site from the map, adjust the pilot’s position and set the area of sky where you normally fly. If no flying zone has been set, FlyCast assumes a full 360° view.
You can also adjust the weather limits to suit your own flying preferences. Your settings stay in your browser.
It started as something for our own trips to the field: a quicker way to decide whether to pack the planes, wait until later, or leave it for another day.
It is still a hobby project, and a forecast cannot tell you everything about the conditions at the field. But hopefully it can help you find a better time to fly — with a little less guessing, and a little less squinting into the sun.