Kite flying

We had Green Giant kites that we got by sending in vegetable can labels. We
used monofilament line. We had an old bicycle that we converted the back
wheel into a spool, so we could reel in the line. It sounds like that
wasn't legal either.

One question however. When you read the FARS, it talks about "moored
balloons or kite". One could argue that a typical kite that is hand held,
is not moored.

Mike Schumann

"Ross Richardson" wrote in message
...
I remember as a kid we used to make our own kites and fly them pretty high.
Several spools of heavy twine was used. I wish we had cordless drills to
use to wind them back in. I seem to remember it took forever to get them
down. Didn't know anything about FARs back then.

Ross

Jim Logajan wrote:

"Skylune" wrote:

I saw a few kids flying kites over the weekend. It occurred to me: What
if they were flying the kites real high in the vicinity of GA
airports? I don't think there are any laws about kite flying off
airport property.


There are laws that cover kite flying under certain conditions - airports
are in fact covered by the regs. Relevant regs are in FAR part 101
"Moored balloons, kites, unmanned rockets and unmanned free balloons".

Quotes from some specific sections (see the FAR for the entire section):

"§ 101.13 Operating limitations.
(a) Except as provided in paragraph (b) of this section, no person may
operate a moored balloon or kite—

(1) Less than 500 feet from the base of any cloud;

(2) More than 500 feet above the surface of the earth;

(3) From an area where the ground visibility is less than three miles; or

(4) Within five miles of the boundary of any airport.

(b) Paragraph (a) of this section does not apply to the operation of a
balloon or kite below the top of any structure and within 250 feet of it,
if that shielded operation does not obscure any lighting on the
structure."

§ 101.15 Notice requirements.
No person may operate an unshielded moored balloon or kite more than 150
feet above the surface of the earth unless, at least 24 hours before
beginning the operation, he gives the following information to the FAA
ATC facility that is nearest to the place of intended operation:

(a) The names and addresses of the owners and operators.

(b) The size of the balloon or the size and weight of the kite.

(c) The location of the operation.

(d) The height above the surface of the earth at which the balloon or
kite is to be operated.

(e) The date, time, and duration of the operation.

§ 101.17 Lighting and marking requirements.
(a) No person may operate a moored balloon or kite, between sunset and
sunrise unless the balloon or kite, and its mooring lines, are lighted so
as to give a visual warning equal to that required for obstructions to
air navigation in the FAA publication “Obstruction Marking and Lighting”.

(b) No person may operate a moored balloon or kite between sunrise and
sunset unless its mooring lines have colored pennants or streamers
attached at not more than 50 foot intervals beginning at 150 feet above
the surface of the earth and visible for at least one mile. "

I did some web searches, and discovered the record for the highest a kite
has flown: over 30,000 feet. (According to the link, that was actually a
series of 8 connected kites). Here is the what the article said:

What's the highest a kite has ever flown? . . . The world record for kite
height was set in 1919 by the German Weather Bureau, when a series of
eight kites was lofted to an altitude of 31,955 feet (9740 meters). During
the retrieval of the kites, the line broke when the tension reached 145
kilograms (319 pounds).

The single-kite record is 12,471 feet (3801 meters) by the US
Meteorological Service in 1896.

In both cases, the kites were flown as part of weather observation
programs. Kites were used for many years in meteorology, but today
balloons, airplanes, and satellites have replaced them, and the kite
altitude records still stand.

Go fly a kite!
http://www.sct.gu.edu.au/~anthony/kites/
http://www.aka.kite.org/
BRThe history of kites in meteorology:
http://www.total.net/~kite/meteor.html

(E-zine: THE LEARNING KINGDOM http://www.tlk-lists.com/join/

On 2006-04-19, Skylune wrote:
Section 4 clearly says no kite flying within 5 miles. The 500' limitation
seems to be in effect everywhere. No?

It does not say that at all - you dropped paragraph (b) which gives
exceptions to that rule. When reading the FARs, you have to read the
WHOLE paragraph, not just bits of it - or you'll get the wrong idea.

It's not uncommon that private pilot candidates get busted on the
checkride for forgetting to read the WHOLE paragraph, so you're not
alone in doing this.

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On 2006-04-19, Jim Logajan wrote:
Oddly enough, I can find no regulations specifically mentioning RC planes.
The obvious regs, such as for ultralight vehicles, specifically state that
they are applicable only to manned vehicles.

They may be regulated elsewhere. (Over here, for example, the CAA
doesn't regulate gliders - glider regulation is deferred to the British
Gliding Association instead). It may be similar in the US with RC
models.

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On 2006-04-19, Skylune wrote:
I did some web searches, and discovered the record for the highest a kite
has flown: over 30,000 feet. (According to the link, that was actually a
series of 8 connected kites). Here is the what the article said:

Going off on a commplete tangent (I like doing that), our main method of
launching gliders here is really a big, manned kite (the glider being
the kite of course). The principle behind winch launching a glider isn't
that different from getting a kite airborne by reeling the line in (or
running backwards a little way) to give it some airspeed. Of course, we
don't have a guy reeling in the winch wire at the other end, but a 4.2
litre Jaguar engine! (And the video is at
http://www.alioth.net/Video/Winch-launch.mp4 if you wanna see how it
works)

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"Mike Schumann" wrote

We had Green Giant kites that we got by sending in vegetable can labels.

Yep, that (Green Giant) and many box kites were my favorites. I don't
remember how many rolls of string I had up on those, but it was many. The
box kite had to have a lot of wind, but if there was too much, it would
break the string.
--
Jim in NC

On Tue, 18 Apr 2006 17:11:00 -0500, "Jim Macklin"
wrote:

§ 101.13 Operating limitations.
(a) Except as provided in paragraph (b) of this section, no
person may operate a moored balloon or kite...
snip

You guys have all missed the essential part; see 101.1(a)(2), which
says the rest of 101 applies to:
"Except as provided for in §101.7, any kite that weighs more than 5
pounds and is intended to be flown at the end of a rope or cable."

So except for 101.7, which says that " No person may operate any
moored balloon, kite, unmanned rocket, or unmanned free balloon in a
manner that creates a hazard to other persons, or their property,"
there are NO specific restrictions on kits weighing less than 5 lbs...
you can legally fly it anywhere, anytime, any altitude.

Full text at http://tinyurl.com/l7vcr .

R/C models: AFAIK there are no FAA regulations. The AMA (Academy of
Model Aeronautics, the national aeromodelling organization) has a
voluntary safety code that says, among other things, "I will not fly
my model aircraft higher than approximately 400 feet above ground
level, when within three (3) miles of an airport without notifying
the airport operator. I will yield the right-of-way and avoid flying
in the proximity of full-scale aircraft, utilizing a spotter when
appropriate." R/C models regularly fly from my local airport (N04)
along with GA, ultralights, paragliders, you name it.

-Dana
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Skylune wrote:



The kite caused the helo to crash???? Do you have an NTSB number or date?
I'd love to read about that one.


Apparently you missed those important 2 letters "RC" as in Remote
Control, in front of helicopter. So no NTSB report just an unhappy kid
with a kite that is no more and a very annoyed RC helicopter pilot, with
a lot of work to do and a lot of money to spend before he will fly again.

--
Chris W
KE5GIX

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by Dana M. Hague d(dash)m(dash)hague(at)comcast(dot)net Apr 19, 2006 at
09:53 PM


On Tue, 18 Apr 2006 17:11:00 -0500, "Jim Macklin"
wrote:

§ 101.13 Operating limitations.
(a) Except as provided in paragraph (b) of this section, no
person may operate a moored balloon or kite...
snip

You guys have all missed the essential part; see 101.1(a)(2), which
says the rest of 101 applies to:
"Except as provided for in §101.7, any kite that weighs more than 5
pounds and is intended to be flown at the end of a rope or cable."

So except for 101.7, which says that " No person may operate any
moored balloon, kite, unmanned rocket, or unmanned free balloon in a
manner that creates a hazard to other persons, or their property,"
there are NO specific restrictions on kits weighing less than 5 lbs...
you can legally fly it anywhere, anytime, any altitude.

Full text at http://tinyurl.com/l7vcr

Kids don't read FARs They don't look crossing the street either.
I saw a C150 hit a kit string one time. The string sawed a 3" gash in the
cowlening then wound up around the front hut and broke the front oil seal
Oil everywhere. Soiled pants Pilot.
Kids took off when kite was hit. Since this years ago, no one called FAA,
cops, or their lawyer. owner just fixed aircraft and we put some signs out
at the runway ends. Took some kids for rides and talked to them too. never
happened agin.


"Dylan Smith" wrote in message
...
On 2006-04-18, Skylune wrote:
I saw a few kids flying kites over the weekend. It occurred to me:
What
if they were flying the kites real high in the vicinity of GA airports?
I
don't think there are any laws about kite flying off airport property.

Yes there are - there is a section in the FARs covering kite flying. Of
course, most kite flyers have never heard of 14 CFR in the first place.

--
Dylan Smith, Port St Mary, Isle of Man
Flying: http://www.dylansmith.net
Oolite-Linux: an Elite tribute: http://oolite-linux.berlios.de
Frontier Elite Universe: http://www.alioth.net