Highest Kite Ever Flown

joegriffinjnr

**Mods feel free to move if needed.

Hi all, does anyone know what the current record is? I have checked Guinness records but can not find any info, checked a lot of sites with all different results from 6000 to 12000 ft. Would the IAA give permission for an attempt, would need a good bit of space, somewhere outside Dublin? I have got a kite very high on many occasions, yesterday getting it over the clouds, taking me nearly an hour to reel her back in. One final thing where can I get a small lightweight device to measure altitude?

Absurdum

depends how high the clouds were :P

http://www.apogeerockets.com/AltimeterOne.asp

I doubt Guinness would accept that though!

SNAKEDOC

if you are attempting a world record and you want recognition for it you must contact the word record office and they sent out an officer who can mearure the peramators of the attempt such as time hight atmospherical pressure at the location as this can all make a difference. the hight would be calculated by them not you. this intregues me i like the thought of an attempt of the highest kite. best of luck with the attempt. i think the headquarters for the guiness world reords is in london so send them an email or something. let us know how it goes

Andrew33

It is a fascinating proposal, it might be quite difficult as a kite relies on airflow for lift and the direction of airflow would change many times as altitude was gained so you would need an inverted cone of free airspace to achieve this. A micro video cam (only weigh a couple of grammes) would be good too. Why not start a sponsorship thread here? I'm sure NASA have probably already flown kites (and practically anything else that can fly) to great altitude but I'm not sure if Norris McWhirter was involved.

joegriffinjnr

Hi all, I have been in contact with Guinness world records and now have a wait of up to 4 weeks. Im just back from another test flight. I have attached a few lights to my kite which looked pretty cool. The rain got the better of me so had to call it a day, not before an hour reel in of the kite though. She peformed well even in the rain and winds were a bit stronger than I wished for but she stayed steady. Does anyone know a good location in or around Dublin for this attempt? Im going to stay with my cheap plastic kite for this because I think they are better when up at high altitude, anyone want to give this a bash with me?

Andrew33

The record altitude for a single kite is 13,600 feet, for a train of kites its 31,955 feet. I presume you're just flying a single kite. How many feet/metres of line are you feeding out? this won't give you an exact altitude but if you can work out the angle of the line (easy enough to do) and you know how much line you have out, it'll be easy to get a pretty good estimate of the altitude of the kite. No point in even trying for a record until you know what your present kite is doing.

judas101

Sounds interesting.

Keep us posted OP, I'll be following with interest.

joegriffinjnr

Unofficially in Wexford last month we got up to just under 6000ft using a friends measuring device (we ran out of string). I have a large kite line wrapped around a large bat which I use as the kites string this however is not measured. Its made up of about 50 different lengths of string tied together. We were testing cams while in wexford and she lifted a small type nokia cam phone but the phone turned in flight so the footage was no good. There is a fair bit of strength in the kite itself considering its plastic.

gorm

joegriffinjnr wrote: »

**Mods feel free to move if needed.

Hi all, does anyone know what the current record is? I have checked Guinness records but can not find any info, checked a lot of sites with all different results from 6000 to 12000 ft. Would the IAA give permission for an attempt, would need a good bit of space, somewhere outside Dublin? I have got a kite very high on many occasions, yesterday getting it over the clouds, taking me nearly an hour to reel her back in. One final thing where can I get a small lightweight device to measure altitude?

I assume you've read this.
http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1999/en/si/0422.html

urajoke

and specifically this:

4. A balloon in captive or tethered flight, or a kite, shall not be flown within 150 metres of a cloudbase or higher than 60 metres above ground level, measured to the top of the balloon. Where it is proposed to tether a balloon of total height 45 metres or more, the Operating Standards Department of the Authority shall first be advised at least 24 hours beforehand.

irish atco

I thought that the highest kite ever flown in Ireland, was the governments assertion that they should be trusted to get us all out of the mess the country is in

BOOM BOOM

stedabee

irish atco wrote: »

I thought that the highest kite ever flown in Ireland, was the governments assertion that they should be trusted to get us all out of the mess the country is in

BOOM BOOM

Ha i like!!:D

*Kol*

urajoke wrote: »

and specifically this:

Looks like the OP is breaking the law with every flight!!

joegriffinjnr

This has come one step closer to reality... watch this space!

ambasite

great thread - any pictures of the kite you are flying? best of luck with your record attempt.

Danbo!

If you've got a date and location I'd love to see the record attempt. Keep us updated

joegriffinjnr

We are so nearly there folks. This will go ahead in the next few weeks. Stay tuned .

SNAKEDOC

To save on time why not attach the kite to motorised winch like on recovery trucks easier to splay out and real in.

Discodog

The biggest problem & the reason why people use strings of several kites, is the weight & drag of the line. Also safety wise you need to ensure that you have a wide enough area - if you are flying to 13000 ft then you need to allow for a 13000 ft radius area. There is the risk of the line breaking & you need to be aware of any risk caused by a kite falling from such a height.

I have seen people using home made battery powered winches. Allowing for angles you will need over 3 miles of line. So even with a big drum, say 2ft diameter, it needs to turn over 2000 times to reel in the kite.

I would suspect that you would need to adjust the kite so that it's angle of attack allows it to fly almost overhead. Because wind will pull it sideways you would might be better off in days that have thermal convection to lift the kite rather than drag it. Needless to say you need to be wary of the electrical risk from thunder clouds.

This makes interesting reading:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kite_line

Su Campu

*Kol* wrote: »

Looks like the OP is breaking the law with every flight!!

Indeed. OP, have you been getting official permission to carry out these test flights, as per the law cited above? I don't fancy an encounter with an illegally-flown kite when I'm legally flying along. And whatever about VFR, you certainly should not be doing it in IMC. I would either hold off until you get the proper clearance or else forget the whole thing before you find yourself in a whole lot of trouble.

You have been advised. Of course if you do have the permission then the best of luck with the attempt!

joegriffinjnr

Su Campu wrote: »

Indeed. OP, have you been getting official permission to carry out these test flights, as per the law cited above? I don't fancy an encounter with an illegally-flown kite when I'm legally flying along. And whatever about VFR, you certainly should not be doing it in IMC. I would either hold off until you get the proper clearance or else forget the whole thing before you find yourself in a whole lot of trouble.

You have been advised. Of course if you do have the permission then the best of luck with the attempt!

Don't worry! All is legit and permission granted on 6 test attempts so far. Unfortunately we only have permission to fly in a limited number of locations and all are outside of Dublin. The lovely people at GBOWW were out with us last week and the location has been decided. Just waiting on a final date. Anyone fancy coming along for a bit of support? I had an idea of people signing my kite before attempt, all signatures would cost about 10 yoyos and all money raised to go to a charity like make a wish or something. At least if we beat the record you could say your name was on the kite :cool:

joegriffinjnr

Folks say hello to 'High Fly 1'!


(This is a google image but our kite is very similar. Our one is green (for Ireland) with the see through plastic bit been white (ideal for signatures).

Frynge

Where is the attempt going to take place and when

Discodog

joegriffinjnr wrote: »

I had an idea of people signing my kite before attempt, all signatures would cost about 10 yoyos and all money raised to go to a charity like make a wish or something. At least if we beat the record you could say your name was on the kite :cool:

I thought that weight was the critical factor & airflow over the wing. So signatures might not be a good idea. You could also consult the guys on the weather forum here as you need conditions that provide thermal lift & not wind.

5 miles of line is going to weigh a lot & Kevlar can't be cheap. Add in the drag & you are going to need a serious amount of lift. You also need an big area to ensure that your kite doesn't land on power lines, roads etc.

By the way I suspect that a good altimeter watch, like a Suunto, would be ideal as it can be set to record the maximum altitude. You need to remember to calibrate it immediately before the attempt. This is the website of the Aussie team - looks like there is some serious competition.

http://www.kitesite.com.au/kiterecord/index.htm

This is the current record holder:

http://www.kwarc.org/bulletin/2000-10/kite.htm