YOUR Kite Making & Flying!

Catch the Wind 
When I was a kid, long ago in the '60s, there was no Internet and no kites-related books in my home... Our need for something that can fly, was satisfied …

Good Kite Books and Bad Kite Books 
When I was in middle school (early 1980s), the local electrical utility used to give out "kite safety" booklets every March. The booklets had kite-making …

Kite Simulation! 
As part of my job I've been working on a catenary model to be integrated in a computational fluid dynamics code. For those who don't know (like me when …

Beginner's Luck 
As a kid, I never really managed to get a kite flying. The only kite I'd ever owned was a store-bought two-line stunt kite made to look like an airplane, …

Aerodynamics Class 
I am teaching a Hands-on Aerodynamics class to 9-12 year olds as part of a summer program at our county museum. A little theory with lots of hands on demonstrations …

Where Eagles Fly 
I'd like to share another story and promise to keep it short. I like building kites but rip-stop material is expensive so I began using black garbage …

Kite Passtimes 
It is with some sadness that I look back to the days of my childhood and realise that many of the passtimes which I enjoyed are no longer in evidence. …

A Wind Too Strong 
I decided to go out to my favorite spot to fly kites a few days ago. The wind was quite brisk, and I had no problem getting my 7 foot delta into the wind. …

Sayings About Kite Making and Flying 
Hi Tim, I thought a friendly competition for the best saying might be fun. Examples: the more original the better These are not original but good to know... …

A Kite Bag for MBK Multi-Fly Diamonds 
Having received the 3 diamond kite train from Tim I thought the train deserved a carry case. Yes, I could just carry the 3 assembled kites (and yes …

My-Best-Kite Diamond Train 
I ordered the advertised kite train (MBK Multi-Fly Diamonds) on the website. Within several days there was the well taped triangular package, delivered …

Kite Line Winding 
Some time ago I wrote about how do you wind in kite line? One of our club members, Steve, found an electrical cord winder (WonderWinder) on google. Adapting …

Beetle Kite Attracts Dolphins 
I have a fantastic story for you! I am a shift worker, just finished my shift so I hope this makes sense as I am very sleepy... I purchased a lady …

Bali Kites 
I live in Bali and love the kites here. Most of the medium sized kites are made of plastic (like yours) but instead of taping the plastic they use mosquito …

My Kite and I Managed to Hold Up Royalty! 
Back in my student days, which seems so long ago... I was down in London, England that is. I'm told there are a few others! The college I was going …

Paper Sleds 
Tim - Your reminisces of making sled kites out of A4 paper prompt two memories or ideas... Firstly some sleds have a triangular section cut out of the …

Hey Mr. What Are You Doing? 
I was stationed on Guam for a period of three years and found it very interesting at first. As the years melted away I did about all I could do while being …

My Passion: Paper Kites 
I'm 55 years old, a disabled veteran who loves all paper kites and I own about 300 HiFliers, Top Flight, etc. I grew up here in Fayetteville NC and I loved …

French Box Kite — Down into Lake Ontario 
A home-made yellow 2M (6'6") span modified French military box flew reliably and extremely well. With a NW wind blowing from the land I flew it up and …

Favourite Delta Flyer 
Greetings. This past Christmas, I received a kite as a present. I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to handle a kite that size being that I had only …

The Child is Father of the Man 
What is my best kite? The stunt I had in the 70's? The one my two little daughters found flying in the 90's on its own, the last foot of line wedged between …

Delta and Box Kites Together 
I was flying my Tim Parish dowel delta the other day with some winds that almost didn't exist close to the ground. Once it got up to over a 100' it took …

Lifting Vortices on Kites 
Or, 'vortex generators'. Recently I have improved the flight characteristics of several different kinds of kites by modifying them with what I call FLOWTHRU …

Low Wind High Flyers 
In the 1980s I made a 0.75 oz RS combination box kite based on a winged rombus tail and a forward Cody biplane. The longeron was about four feet down the …

Kite Flying and Watermelon Season 
While in Mainland China, it was a kite enthusiast's dream come true. Everywhere people were making kites, flying kites, selling kites on the street, and …

Successful Kite Flights 
Thank you so much for having taken me back to my childhood. I am 63. I have made the 2-skewer delta and diamond kites for my 3 years old grandchild. …

Thermalling in Train 
Just a quick flight report about flying kites in train or, flying two on the same line. I was out at the park again with my kite flying co-pilot, Brennan. …

Kite Finding 
Your "kite losing" topic brought to mind the realm of "kite finding" which has several meanings. Finding a kite in the kite stores, in kite-plan books, …

The Best Kite I Ever Saw — In China 
The best kite I ever saw was at the park in mainland China. I worked during the week and on weekends I went to the park to see and study the masters as …

Kite Contest on a South Pacific Island  
I have not thought about making kites in a long time. I have an addition. When I was 8 years old (1959) I was living in Okinawa, which is in a chain of …

Re-winding Kitelines 
Several of members of Adelaide Kite Flyers have been pondering how to best rewind our lines at the end of a long day. The last thing you wish to do is …

Barn Door Kite Memories 
I built your Barn-Door kite and it is extraordinarily stable! So much fun and impressive to see and fly. I wanted to build a barn-door because my dad …

The Box 
omg i made a kite from this site and i fly it ....... booom i didnt expect this bc in the other sites instuction are trash thank you (T.P. - Daivon, …

Jamaicans Loved My Kites 
My wife and I just got back from a week at an all-inclusive resort in Negril, Jamaica. I was suffering and recovering from a pinched nerve in my back so …

Unexpected Surprise 
I really like kites. Progressively over the years, they've grown larger and larger. I guess I didn't really notice until one day I got the craving for …

Glider Flight 
Despite the title this IS a kiting story. I love kites and have flown a large variety of kites from simple "classic" kites to stunters and box kites. …

Kite Spar Joining Suggestion 
Not sure if you've ever seen this used, but when I was a lad (around the time Wilbur and Orville were playing with their first kites), we used this quite …

A Thank You and Some Comments 
I thank you for your commentary and videos about the 2012 Adelaide Kite Festival - we all had a great time and enjoyed the weather, the kite-flying, the …

UFO's Over the Beach 
Living in Pensacola, Florida on the Gulf coast, we get to fly the beautiful beaches year round. And with Gulf Breeze formally being a UFO 'hot spot" so …

Kite Making in Bermuda 
Good Friday kites in Bermuda... I am a 68-year-old presently living in Western Canada. The kite tradition in Bermuda is central to my own early kiting …

Small Kite Events 
I try to attend every event within driving distance that has anything at all to do with kite flying. Recently I went to a local kite fly at a nearby county …

Kite Symmetrics — Or Something Like That 
A kite being of symmetrical design is tested by increased wind velocity pressing against the flying surface. As wind speed increases asymmetrical faults …

Kids Can Fly 
Well I'll start this story by telling you that I live in Great Falls Montana, where the wind doesn't blow it sucks. Needless to say pretty much every day …

Long Line Kite Flying 
As a boy of around 10 years I used to fly a wooden dowel single string kite about 30 inches long by about 20 inches wide. I flew it over the sea on the …

New Style of Kite Line Winder 
I'm working on a new style of kite line winder that I want to share. It uses a capstan to pull the line, and then winds the line onto a lightweight …

Kite Convention in Wildwoods New Jersey 2011 
Imagine being fortunate enough to have "to fly kites" as your reason to visit when asked by US Immigration, "why have you come to the USA?" Each year …

Green Kiting 
We are all told to go green and conserve the planetary resources and reduce carbon use etc. Certainly the high end of kiting is about technical materials …

Sky Fishing 
Since I was a kid, I've been flying kites. Not every day, sometimes not even monthly, but over the years, once in a while. Back in the sixties, my …

Sharing the Love of Kites 
This past August I spent a week in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania. I was a volunteer at the Ronald McDonald Charities summer camp for children with …

Delta Kite With Unusual Passenger 
Yesterday evening I put a seven foot single line Delta kite up at about four hundred feet and anchored it there for a couple of hours just before dark. …

Small Nylon Delta Kite 
Got it to fly, now a little girl can enjoy it. Here's what happened... I had bought a small nylon delta kite several years ago and could not get it …

Santa's Kite Tree 
There is magic in the air and its not a new kite this time. It is a mystery solved from years ago and for many years to come. I'm talking about the fly-aways …

Flat Hexagonal & Barn Door Kites — The 1860s 
Both the US and CS army signal corps experimented with lantern signals suspended from kites. Kites were also used to offer a searching party the means …

How Not to Get Started in Kite Flying 
When I was a young boy living in the U.K. I belonged to the Cubs and Scouts movment. Each week they choose a subject for us to do which fitted the weather. …

Kite Phrase — Thermaling Out 
I spend some time around some of the 'older than me' guys that still build and fly the free flight model airplanes, you know, the ones from the twenty's …

Perfect Flight 
With any kite experience at all you learn that a single line kite normally flys at a certain angle with the wind pushing against it with tension on the …

Christmas Kite 
I can't speak for others but at my house every Chrismas season there is always pieces of gift wrapping paper laying around everywhere. Now it is forbidden …

Kite Buster 
Sometimes you just have to tell on yourself when its too funny not to share the story with others. I saw an opportunity to pull a good trick on someone …

Simple Kite Flying Rules — Oops! 
Have you ever done something, only to find out that it would have been much better if you had followed the rules? Well such was this day. I was out at …

Kite Night Flight One 
Most kite fliers agree that summer winds are gusty, unpredictable and most of the time no fun to deal with other than just flying light wind floater kites …

Kites — The Daydreaming Tool 
About six months ago while looking around on the Internet at kite stuff I ran across a good article about the old High Flier paper kites that most of us …

Rokkaku Snow Kite 
My first Rokkaku kite was just an experiment of mine that was nothing more than wood skewers and lightweight table cloth plastic with an overall size of …

Kite Tales for Reel 
Like most dedicated adult kite fliers I spent a reasonable amount of time as a young person with the old paper kites from the hardware store. But for right …

The Kite Attraction 
I live in the southern part of the UK amongst the Water Cress Beds of Hampshire. As I drove down the road towards the nearest town I saw a beautiful sight. …

Kites for Sunday School 
The kites we made... 1. 36" Sled Kite. I loved it... kids liked it. 2. 12" Diamond Kite. Good flier! Worked OK in most conditions .... 3. 18" Delta …