KAP at home (No CF Card)

Place: Home
Winds: Very strong. (8 mph on ground, 15-20 at altitude?)
Kite: FF16
Camera and Rig: Digital Rebel, Rig 2.1 fixed in vertical orientation.

By late afternoon saturday I had finished working on the new deck gate. I decided to de-stress by flying the FF16 before dinner. The winds aloft looked very strong but our house is sheltered by a lot of trees so on the ground the wind was intermittent. I did manage to get the FF16 up with some work and soon it was flying confidently at the end of a 500' line.

Since it was working so well, I decided to attach the camera rig. That wasn't so easy because a) I was already at the end of the line, b) The wind was getting a little fitful and didn't want to lift the heavy rig and c) I tied off at the bottom of a hill and walked out the line to attach the camera. The third point was an unforseen difficulty. Because I was walking uphill to the attachment point, the camera didn't have much altitude above the ground once it was attached. Even though it was 30-40 feet above the attachment point, it was only 5 or 6 above the ground. This meant in the lulls, it dropped back down onto the grass a couple times. Ouch. (No damage done, however.) Eventually I managed to attach it and walk the kite and rig back out of the hole to my own house.

Once back home, with camera flying, I positioned it over Christina as she was working on the grill. I also tilted it at one point to get an oblique shot of the neighborhood. Eventually I wrapped it up and hauled the camera back down.

By that time the wind was very strong. The FF16 was pulling like a horse. I had a hard time detaching the rig from the line. And at one point with the picavet attached at one end, I slipped and dropped the rig a couple feet onto the driveway. Ouch again. (Again, no damage, fortunately.) Then with a lot of work I hauled the kite in a bit at a time.

Once everything was put away, I tried to view the images in the camera to see if any of the shots were decent. To my surprise it just said "No CF Card." I had spent all that time and effort and risked the camera for nothing -- not one image.

Note to self: make a checklist and follow it!

The performance of the heavy rig on the FF16 is giving me some concerns. The wind was quite strong and it held the rig well but it was obvious that heavy rig and low flying angle are not a good combination. Changes in wind speed meant fairly large altitude changes for the camera and rig as the line tension fluctuated. With a more vertical flying angle, this isn't such a problem. Makes me think I need a much lighter rig to use on the flowform.

Dopero over Kings View Ridge

Location: Home
Kite: Dopero 104
Winds: 1-2 mph (est.)
Camera/Rig: none.

When I got home from work Gina didn't have any immediate plans so I decided to try flying the Dopero from the house. The wind was very light and sporadic so I wasn't sure I would be able to get airborne. After setting up the kite, I boosted it up and let it drift down wind a bit. Then I had to walk up the street a bit to keep it flying. I kept this up with the kite never seeming to have quite enough lift to fly on its own. Eventually I ended up standing at the end of the sidewalk (no further to walk) and the kite was up about 200-300 feet. At last the clear winds up high made themselves felt and the kite was flying. Barely.

It had enough self-sustaining lift that I was able to walk back to my own house. Once there, it kept flying for about 10 minutes but never with enough lift to hold the camera. Then it started slipping down so I had to pull all the line in. I think during the entire descent there was virtually no wind -- I was keeping the kite in control by continuing to pull down the line. But the Dopero flies great in those conditions, it glides down very gracefully.

As I was pulling it down, a fellow named Jim came walking by with his daughter. They had seen the kite from far across the neighborhood and she wanted to see it up close. They stayed until the kite was all the way down to the ground.

While I was setting up, I timed myself. It took 10 minutes to assemble the Dopero and prep the camera rig. But I think it took more like 30 minutes to put the kite away and wind up all the line.

KAP Gods Reward Persistence

I tried taking the Dopero out today on my lunch hour. The wind was very light, though, and non-existent at times. I couldn't get the Dopero 104 to hang up there. Oh well, there are worse things than spending an hour in the sun playing with a kite.


Location: Germantown Soccer Complex
Kite: Dopero 104
Winds: 4 mph (est.)
Light: Evening sun and partly cloudy.
Camera/Rig: Digital Rebel on new rig. (Fixed vertical orientation.)
Images: 69

After work I had some time on my hands and the wind looked marginally better so I headed back to the soccer complex. At first I thought it was going to be a repeat of lunch -- no wind. But the wind was just a couple mph stronger and consistent. So the Dopero flew well and soon I was ready to attach the new camera rig.

That's when a problem appeared: the camera wouldn't power up. So I switched to the backup battery -- it was also low. But there was nothing for it but to fly the camera with low battery.



I got it out over the mini-golf course first. Then over the splash park and back over the golf-course a second time. After that it was over to the tiny little pond surrounded by cattails.



At that point, I brought the camera down low for some close-ups and the kite starting losing lift. I had to take off the camera rig and let the kite out another 100ft or so to get a better grip on the sky.

Then I walked the rig over to the King Barn. I was all over that thing and got some closeup verticals right from the top of the silo.

Finally, I walked over to the playset where a family of four had just arrived. I parked the camera over the playset for quite a while then brought it down. When it got down to the ground the camera wasn't shooting anymore. The battery had died.

Once I got home, I pulled up the photos on the computer and found the battery had died just a couple shots after the second launch. So there's no barn shots and no playground set. But the mini-golf course, pond and splashpark shots all turned out. I'll have to go back for the barn and playset shots another day.

Met Cris Benton and Tom Nied at Philadelphia University of the Arts

TODO: Describe trip to UARTS. 4-22

Test Flights: Dopero and FF16

TODO: Describe test flights of Dopero and FF16 4-16.
Field next to splash park.
Adjusted bridle way down on Dopero. Flies better but winds are too high right now. (8-10 mph)
Took out FF16 and flew it with 250# and 100# lines. 100# marginally better. It's flying in 8mph wind but not enough pull for KAP rig.

KAP at Little Park

TODO: Describe KAP attempt at the little park.
(First flight after left-right bridle adjustment)
Flying well now but winds too light and failing.
Flew SLR rig briefly but couldn't get any altitude.

TODO: Determine actual date from photos. (Actual date between 4-10 and 4-15.

Adventure Park

TODO: describe KAP attempt at adventure park. 4-9
Dopero is squirrely again -- overflying and turning slowly in circles at apex.
Made left-right centering adjustment on top and bottom bridles.