Date: 31 Mar 1993 14:21:35 +0100
From: pat@cs.strath.ac.uk (Patrick Prosser)
Message-ID: <1pc5sv$9sb@kelvin-02.cs.strath.ac.uk>
Organization: Comp. Sci. Dept., Strathclyde Univ., Glasgow, Scotland.
Subject: swsk

I am in the process of developing (yet another) swept wing stunt kite (swsk).
I am developing it so that I can then produce a number of them so that I can
promote/encourage team flying within our club (the Kite Club of Scotland (KCoS)).
I also want the swsk to be good for precision/ballet flying, therefore it must
(a) track well, (b) not be too fast/strong, and (c) be good at the edge of the wind.

At present, the swsk exhibits good and bad behaviour. It tracks well, and the pull is 
reasonable. It has a very good wind range, and flies with very little noise.
It performs crisp turns, with no over-steer.

Unfortunately it has a habit of "dropping its nose". I can walk towards it
to slow it down, and rather than slide backwards, it tends to drop the nose.
This can also happen at the edge of the wind.

I first thought that this was due to the top and bottom cross spars being too
close together, making the kite "pitch sensitive" (I've noticed this on a 
number of kites, and they also tend to "bounce" when tracking left/right).
So, I changed the position of the top cross spar, shortening it, and moving 
it towards the nose. I also made a new bridle, and a small "bustle" tail.

So, that is essentially 2 changes (I know as a scientist that I should only 
alter 1 variable at a time, but I'm human). The swsk still shows the same 
characteristic, dropping the nose. The bridle is set so that the swsk just
makes it off the ground, so it is not "over flying". 

I am going to experiment with weight distribution (adding alloy rings to the 
tail of the kite), but I suspect that weight distribution is NOT the problem.

The swsk is full size, using 5.5mm beaman. As a generic design it is a hybrid,
somewhere between the Flash Angel, and the LiteFlite-S (Mabel). I did this 
because (in my opinion) the Flash Angel is the best swsk I have yet flown,
and the LiteFlite-S flies in the least wind. Also, both kites are beautiful
to look at (when all else is equal, choose the most beautiful one :-)


Therefore, my question: what design features of a swsk encourage it to
"drop its nose", and how can I design this out? 



Patrick "swsk drops its nose" Prosser

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