Kite Lines - Vol.1 No. 2 - KiteLife

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What's New :Kites, books, SundriesKitesBy Mel GovigTWO NEW KITESAfter 10 years of kiteflying, I enjoyedthe surprise of trying out two truly newkites . The Flair from Kites Kites Kitesand the Firebird from Ultra Kite aresimilar to one another in plan andassembled appearance . Both arefinned, winged kites . The Flair is adouble-keeled, flat kite of very lightrip-stop nylon . The Firebird is awinged sled of Tyvek ®, printed in afiery design . But the kites' similaritiesend with appearance ; they don't flyalike at all .The Flair is a soaring kite . Withoutits drogue it would probably overfly .With the drogue, it climbs to straightoverhead in a five mile-per-hourwind . It flies very light on the line,spilling gusts and never developingexcessive pull . It can be pumped upto several hundred feet with no morebreeze than it takes to keep itdownwind .The Firebird looks and flies like aConyne . In a sense, that's what it is :a Conyne with inverted dihedral . Thiskite develops tremendous lift . Theprinted warning to wear gloves shouldbe observed . The Firebird flew verystably and at a decent angle in a lightwind, about five miles per hour .Both the Flare and the Firebird areeasy to assemble, and both roll upfor carrying convenience . I'd say thetwo were comparable in durability andgeneral satisfaction -as well as inprice : about $10 for the Flare and about$9 for the Firebird .SOME STUNTERS REVIEWEDAssistants : Paul Ritchey, PeteIanuzzi and Rick KinnairdThe two-line control kite has beenpointing directions for the kite industryfor two summers since the PeterPowell Stunter started it all . Thestunters can't be ignored, whateverway you look at them . So we spentnearly four hours testing modelstestingsome of them to destructionatthe Great Delaware Kite Festival,after the contest was over and the fieldwas cleared .As I see it, we have about one yearto enjoy the stunter kites . It's only amatter of time before some carelesskiter hurts a bystander with his kiteand spoils it for all of us . If we are allespecially careful, we might be able tostretch our term to two years . I can'tmake the point strongly enough : Theonly way to avoid danger is to avoidpeople .That caveat aside, what do these kiteshave to offer? Lots of fun! It is truethat almost any kite can be outfittedto fly maneuverably on two lines, butnot many fliers will trouble with that .They will see a stunter in action andsuddenly be infected with a yen to trythe sport . The ready-to-dance kiteis what they will want .We tested eight stunter models outof about a dozen on the market . Mostwere adaptations of the Peter Powell :the Sky-ro-gyro ($19 to $22) ; the SkyCat ($14 to $16) ; the Aerobat (about$12 .50) ; and the Windjammer ($10 to$11) . We also tested two modifiedEddys : the Sky Tiger (about $8 .50) ;and Hi-Flier's Super Stunter (about$4) ; as well as one very sexy-lookingConyne-influenced design, the DunfordFlying Machine (about $23 to $25) .In general, all the kites tested workon the same principle : two lines ofequal length are attached to the kiteon the left and right sides . A kitepulled on the right side moves to theright and pulled on the left side movesto the left . All the stunts and maneuvers(and there are many) are derivedfrom combinations of right or leftline pulls .When you see the beach boys flyingtheir stunters, you may be put off,thinking the sport is too athletic orrequires too much drill . It isn't and itdoesn't . In a few minutes, anyone canlearn to fly and enjoy these kites . True,it takes practice to really master allthe stunts and especially to skim thekite in for a graceful, gentle landing .But to do controlled loops, dives,sweeps and figure eights really is aseasy as it looks .If you haven't flown one of thesekites, a few general comments apply .First, stunters move very fastthrough the air, and, as I said, are veryanti social kites . They are not welcomeat kite festivals or crowded beaches andshould not be flown in any place wherethey could endanger others . Most controllablesrequire about 200 feet ofclear space in front of the flier, oneach side, and overhead .Second, all these kites are stoutpullers, so be equipped with glovesor calluses . (If you don't have theformer, you'll get the latter.)Third, take the kite on a few tentativeloops and short dives at high altitudebefore you venture maneuvers
near the ground, so that you learn topredict the kite's responses .Finally, come equipped with extratape, covers, sticks (or kites) if youplan to fly for a long period .We were flying in very strong winds,about 25 miles per hour-good conditionsfor stunting . We found thatperformance differences, for theaverage flier, were slight from kite tokite . In general, the smaller the kite,the faster it responded and the quickerand shorter were the maneuvers . Themore flexible the struts (fiberglass wasthe most flexible), the more sluggishthe kite and the slower the turns .Kites with the three-prong nosedesign (such as the Peter Powell)seemed to bounce and glide off theground and land gently except in ahead-on dive at the earth . This resilienceis important, since bouncingseems to be inevitable . The Sky Tigerand the Super Stunter tipped on theirnoses, resulting in a torn cover on oneand a broken stick on the other. TheDunford suffered a broken stick in aground collision . Durability becomesthe standard for selection since performanceof all these kites is adequate .Most of the kites were covered in5-mil polyethylene . This seemed to bea worry-free choice . Two had lighterpoly covers which were not strongenough for our winds, although theymight have been better in lighter windsbecause of their lesser weight .Spectacle is a big part of stunterflying . Tails add a lot to this withoutaffecting the flight performance much .The tubular tail of the Peter Powell isespecially dramatic . It follows the pathof the kite in long casual loops . Eventhe long flat polyethylene tails areTriple Powells at Old Warden field, England .attractive . Tails tend to make the loopsand rolls look planned, whereas a flightwithout them might look to a bystanderlike an operation out of control,no matter how masterfully you fly .All the controllables are quite easyto assemble and transport, except theDunford, which takes about 15 minutesto assemble . Also the Windjammerhas a drawback. Its cross bar was largerin diameter than the tubes receivingit . Some fancy whittling was requiredto make it fit .As a lover of fighter kites, I ampleased to add the two-line stuntersto my kite bag . In general, when afighter kite flies well (four to eightmile-per-hour breeze), a stunter won't .And when a stunter flies well (over 10mile-per-hour wind), the fighterseither have become unmaneuverablystable or have been destroyed . So, ifyou like kinetic kites, the fighters andthe stunters complement one anothernicely.Some of this issue's test models were suppliedby The Kite Site, Georgetown, DC .The Dunford model was lent by MarvinTyrrell of Delmar, DE .POSTSCRIPT : GETTING A GRIPON THE CONTROLLABLESBy Bruce PfundSeven years ago I purchased aninexpensive two-line maneuverablekite, which was demolished by the timeI had gained an inkling of how to flythe darn thing .Since then I've logged over 2500hours flying two-stringers, testingalmost 30 kites of my own design, andtrying for increased maneuverability,speed and durability .The dynamics of two-line control areessentially the same for all maneuverablekites, but performance of modelsvaries . Here are some definitions,principles and rules of thumb I'velearned for the maneuverables .DynamicsWhen launched with both lines exactlythe same length, the stunter kite willbehave just like any other kite . It willzoom up to maximum elevation andstay there, an equilibrium-seeking kite .When the line lengths are changed,the kite will be turned, because thekite has been tilted to the wind alongthe backbone axis, and the two halvesof the kite skin generate unequal lift .The pull on each line is a functionof its length relative to the kite . Theshorter line will have the greater pull,and the kite will turn to this side .Pull on both lines is equal and minimumwith the wind at your back andthe kite at maximum elevation . Pullis maximum when the kite is closest tothe ground and will decrease as thekite gains altitude or approaches theright or left hand limits of the wind .One-line kites fly at a fixed angleof attack, whereas two-line kites undergochanges in the angle of attack asthey traverse the wind .Both the speed and the rate of turnincrease as the angle of attack increases .The kite never travels at a fixed speedbut actually is always accelerating ordecelerating . What starts out as a largediameterturn from a high altitude willrapidly become a faster, tighter turn
Page 5: The American Kitefliers Association
Page 8: LettersUPS AND DOWNSFascinating fac
Page 11: Conyne kite . So far we have had a
Page 14 and 15: Kites Past :Historic NotesPerson-Li
Page 17 and 18: the end is notin sightMillions of p
Page 19 and 20: Countdown of the Bigge trainof sled
Page 21 and 22: How to Conduct ThemTHE FLYING DUTCH
Page 23 and 24: aided or monofilament nylon .Here i
Page 25 and 26: unlike any other style or variant I
Page 30 and 31: What's New(Continued)as the kite ap
Page 32: What's New(Continued)zines . These
Page 36 and 37: News From Here & There(Continued)ab
Page 39: ½-fo coolNews From Here &There(Con
Page 43: News From Here & There(Continued)ha
Page 47: News From Here & There(Continued)Ki
Page 51: News From Here & Therel Washington
Page 54: Flying withThe Old ProBy Bob Ingrah
Page 58 and 59: THE DUTCH KITE2. Open paper flat .
Page 60 and 61: June6Thomas Ansboro files first rot

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