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Self Launching Kites
Takes the effort out of flying kites and is going to look great at night. (Anti Category I suppose - feel free to change) | |
I was up on Hampstead Heath the other day trying in vain to get a shoddy old kite up in the air. Not having much luck with the tried and tested methods of running or throwing the thing aloft. Happened to have some fireworks in the car so thought of the great idea of tying the kite to a rocket and launching
it that way. Works a treat, only the kite caught alight and came crashing down to earth in a fireball, which you have to skip around a bit to avoid. I think the thing to remember, which luckily happened more by instinct than design, is to let go of the string. I'll let you know how it goes with the smaller rocket and longer string this weekend. If anyone has any safer suggestions I'm quite happy to experiment.
(?) Here's your faceache, po.
http://home.swipnet...tipset/faceache.htm
Not related, but... Ouch [dag, Apr 26 2002]
Henry Trengrouse
http://salsa.iinet....allships/henry.html
Used a rocket to launch a landing line to a ship in distress. [angel, Apr 26 2002, last modified Oct 04 2004]
Archived copy of above "faceache" link
https://web.archive...tipset/faceache.htm
[notexactly, May 18 2019]
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Annotation:
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self launching or auto-incinerating? perhaps a big catapult (or modified head squisher) would be safer and more effective. |
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On the one hand, it's encouraging to discover we have a built-in instinct to let go of strings attached to burning, falling kites. |
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On the other hand, one can't help but feel a moment of sadness for those who held the string, caught fire, and relegated themselves to a short branch on our genetic tree. |
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No, I had let go of the string or I would have gone up (and presumably then come down) with it. It was a big firework. |
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What type of kite are you trying to fly? (Besides a shoddy old one) It's not THAT difficult to get them aloft. Did you check for a wind? |
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Seriously, as far the rocket launched kite goes, if the kite is fully expanded on the launch, it may not survive the flight up. Get the kite up with the rocket in a compressed or folded form and deploy it like a parachute with your line attached. |
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faceache's stories of Hampstead Heath. do we believe them? thats him alright, dag. hah |
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I love this idea. A brilliant example of wreckless overkill in the pursuit of a solution to a minor recreation-based problem that is a trademark of the 1/2B. |
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[stupop] speaks prolific truth! The idea of attatching rockets to things has long interested mankind. I had a friend who decided it would be a good idea to attatch a very small and slightly broken video camera to one and send it up into the air. Resulting footage was priceless. What type of rocket were you using the first time, [notripe]? And for that matter, what are up, or rather, down-grading to now? |
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It was a stupid big rocket, back when anyone could get hold of pro display fireworks, so we went through a phase. Hampstead Heath got boring quickly, so we got quite laissez faire with them and lit one in a city square. The first bang (of 40) set off every car alarm within 200m so we had to leave. |
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As for the smaller rocket and the kite, that was all getting a bit scientific tbh, so we went back to firing the bigger ones at the London Eye. |
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As the old saying goes (kind of...): if you have to run (or
rocket...) to launch your kite (assuming appropriate wind),
you're either:
A: doing it wrong, or
B: need a better kite.
Most of my kites launch so easily I have trouble getting them
to NOT launch while I finish setting up (lines, handles, etc). |
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For me it's option C. I'm need [sic] a kite at all. |
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We are all but archived copies of ourselves. |
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