Ash_R

Old thread! But this is very much still a current topic. In my very limited experience, weather forecasts and wind numbers are only helpful for big picture context (weather radar is even better for that). It comes down to very local conditions at your launch site plus your comfort level on any given day. Some days I go out and kite the wing and everything seems good so I go for a flight. Other days I kite a bit and it feels like twisting winds, or little thermals, or I'm feeling a bit tired or hung over or distracted and I just put the gear away. If the weather forecast is even vaguely close to flyable, it's worth getting out there with the wing to test things out. If it doesn't look good, at least you got a bit of ground handling practice in, and you'll have learned more about the weather.

Just wanted to add an update to this thread because it's the one I came across when I was having a very similar problem with my Atom 80. In my case the engine was also nearly new, around 4 hours total time, and I had one total loss of power at altitude and then several losses of power on runup. I looked for fuel line bubbles and while there were possibly some little ones, clearing them didn't seem to make a difference. Several times when the engine died at full throttle there were absolutely no bubbles in the line. (Kyle O's suggestion of a mirror attached to the throttle body was definitely useful during all of those checks). In the end I solved my problem by enriching the mixture just a touch, the engine has been running perfectly ever since. I've been checking the spark plug colour and that looks good now too, deep coffee colour.