Gravity in the area where I live (5500ft alt.) is too strong for my Litestik...

Any ideas on getting my bird to fly at this altitude?

From : Don Stackhouse

As others have noted, the air at 5500' MSL is thinner, but there's more to the problem than that. The answer is not quite what might first come to mind.

Your airplane will need to fly faster in the thinner air to make the same lift, but at the higher speed that makes that same lift, it will also make about the same drag as at lower altitudes. I fly my Lite Stik on a 6-cell 600 mah NiMH pack at about 1000' MSL. The performance isn't in the "rocket ship" category with that setup ("trainer-like" comes to mind), but it's adequate, and the 20 minute flight times are nice. Yes, shedding some weight would help (mine is definitely more spirited with a 7-cell 280 mah NiMH pack), but that's not the real problem.

Yes, a gas engine makes less power when it has to breathe thinner air, but you don't have a gas engine. Electric motors don't care about the altitude. That's not the problem.

Don Stackhouse
DJ Aerotech