Kite Lines - Vol.1 No. 3 - KiteLife

little difference . The bowed kite onaverage required about six miles perhour, the Bullet about five miles perhour, the parawing about seven milesper hour, all regardless of the typeor even size of tail used . It seems thateven in light winds use of tails fornon-functional purposes won't slowdown your kite much .• What effect does a tail have upon themaximum wind a kite will take? Thingswere quite different at this end of thewind scale . The flat kite would take asubstantially higher maximum wind(25 miles per hour) with the mediumand large drogues than with eitherstreamers or pony tails (17 and 20miles per hour) . The bowed kite tooka higher maximum wind (45 miles perhour) with streamers than with ponytails or drogues (35 miles per hour) .The Bullet took the same maximumwith the large sizes of either streamers,pony tails or drogues (35 miles perhour) . And the parawing had its bestmaximum with the medium-sizeddrogue (25 vs . 20 and 22 miles perhour) . So, select your tails on thebasis of the type of kite being flown .• How do tails affect the angle of elevation?As expected, when the size and weightof the tail increase, the angle of elevationthe kite can achieve decreases .The flat kite reached a 67-degreeangle, which dropped off to 55 degreeswith the larger tails . The Bulletdropped from 65 degrees to 45 degrees,and the parawing from 65 degrees to40 degrees . Interestingly, though,the bowed kite maintained about a65-degree angle of elevation withany size of tail .• What tails give the highest angle ofelevation? The highest angle wasachieved for the flat kite whenstreamers of the various sizes wereused (67 degrees), although the differencesweren't great as comparedwith pony tails and drogues . Thebowed kite achieved almost exactlythe same angle of elevation (65 degrees)whether streamers, pony tails ordrogues were used . The Bullet a-chieved the same angle (65 degrees)when the small streamer, small ponytail and small drogue were used, andthe angle decreased as the larger tailsof any type were used . The parawinggot its greatest angle of elevation withthe small pony tails (65 degrees), butthe standard, medium and large ponytails were too heavy to allow theparawing to rise .• What is the best tail for a kite with nodihedral? While the flat kite, as noted,took a higher maximum wind withdrogues than with streamers or ponytails, I considered the flight characteristicsunsatisfactory with any sizedrogue and also with any size ponytail except medium . Therefore, I havesome confirmation of what we knewall along, that a suitable size streameris the best tail for a flat kite, if youwant flight stability.• What is the best tail for a kite with apositive dihedral? The bowed kite performedequally well in the air withstreamers, pony tails or drogues . Butsince the kite took a slightly highermaximum wind with streamers, as wellas equal elevation, we may concludethat streamers work a little better herealso than the other tails .• What is the best tail for a kite with anegative dihedral? The Bullet had asmall yaw with any size streamer, andwith the small and standard sizes ofpony tails . Since an equal angle ofelevation came with the small-sizedrogue, we can conclude that a smallor standard-size drogue is best forthis type of kite, followed by mediumand large-size pony tails .• What is the best tail for a kite with botha positive end and a negative dihedral?The parawing is more skittish in theair, but the best stability was achievedwith small and standard streamers,small and standard pony tails and amedium drogue . To accept the maximumwind, use of the medium droguewas best, but for the highest angle ofelevation, the small pony tail wouldbe the choice for the parawing, againsomething we've known for a long time .-Are there any counter-indications forthe use of tails? Results are not too conclusive,but there is some evidence thatif you want stability drogues do not workwell on flat kites or parawings, orstreamers on the Bullet . No counterindicationswere found for bowed kites .I've determined to my own satisfactionthat attaching streamers, ponytails or drogues to a kite may not improveflying characteristics much, butat least tails will do little harm either.Thus the aesthetes in kiting with ataste for tails need not apologize to theaerodynamicists .