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Hey guys! Me again!I'm here on behalf of a Mechanical Engineering Project that requires a mechanism to be built that will launch a kite in low winds so that it will be shot up to 50m where the better winds are. I'm back with another few questions to ask all of you. Any help is appreciated!1. How do you normally launch your kites? Besides tugging and running backwards?2. Were there any methods that didn't work? Why?3. At what speed do you consider low winds? How fast must the wind be to lift a kite?4. What's the weight of your kite along with the photography rigging?5. What types of kite do you use? What are their specs? What winds do they fly in? How heavy can the lift?6. What type of cameras do you use?7. What has been the smallest and largest kites/payloads you have used?8. Do you KAP on land or at sea? Which do you prefer?9. How much would a full set be? Kite and rigging included?10. Have you ever used methods that involved an energy source? Batteries etc.11. Do you fly on your own or with a group? Thanks again! Jason

Mike, Rose and Steve, three members of the 180 GO! Revolution kite flying team, perform with their personal kites over and near a 360 degree video camera at Montrose Beach in Chicago, Illinois. We had a small group from the Illinois Kite Enthusiasts http://www.ikeclub.org show up on March 28 at frozen Montrose Beach. I placed my 360 video camera about 8 inches off the sand and asked Mike, Rose and Steve to fly their Revs in the area. The camera perspective and optics makes it appear that they were flying a distance away. For much of the time they had the kites within about 25 feet. The final landing was about 3 feet from the camera. It's great to fly with these folks. They are very helpful to a beginner like myself. Letting me jump into the group and do whatever I feel that I can do. And yet gently nudge me to do better. That's me off to the side with my spiral. Airborne for a few seconds until I decided to just watch the masters. More photos: https://www.facebook.com/events/1595871713961606/ Bill

After officially joining the dark side with the gift certificate I won here last winter, I had my first chance last weekend to fly in formation with a group of other (much more experienced) Rev. fliers. What a blast! I was kite number 10 of a 10-kite flight at the third-annual Illinois Kite Enthusiasts' weekend retreat. We did some follow-the-leader and a couple of static formations. I had more trouble than anyone else staying in position, but part of the time I did OK. The other fliers were very gracious and encouraging and I got a great deal out of the experience, which is why I'm writing. If you're a novice (like me) or future Rev. flier, take heed: If a group of experienced fliers invites you to fly with them, do not hesitate! Don't worry about whether you're good enough. They've been watching you fly and know what they're getting themselves into. Do realize that group flying can help improve your precision more than solo flying. This is especially true with speed control. Flying solo, it's really hard to know how well you're really controlling your speed. In a group, you know exactly how good your speed control is! And these training benefits, I suspect, are big part of what prompted the experienced fliers to invite the novice in. They knew what it would do for my flying, because they've been there. If you haven't had a chance to fly with a group yet, I recommend that during your solo flying, you work on holding hovers more than just zipping around the sky. Then, fly horizontal figures 8, slowly, without allowing your kite to speed up on the descents or slow down on the climbs. This is particularly difficult to judge when flying alone, but work on it anyway. Then, find some experienced people to fly with. I'm lucky that the IKE retreat happens only a couple of hours from home, but there are plenty of other kite clubs around the country who have fun flies, so find one. Believe me, you'll get a lot out of it!