WORLD ALTITUDE RECORD

APRIL 2005

Cable Downs airstrip in April 2005. The country was in the middle of a drought and it was hot, dry and dusty on the 1.2 km disused air field. Roger’s kite buggy is on the right near the umbrella. It didn’t get much use as the winds were light and variable. Conditions were not suitable for any altitudes over 6,000 ft and often it was a struggle to go beyond 1,000 ft. The scrub either side of the strip was cleared in 2009 to make a zone of over 400 acres. This was a huge improvement for launch conditions and line clearance to trees.

This vertical profile is displayed in Garmin mapsource software on a laptop. It shows and an altitude of about 4,800 ft above sea level or 4,170 ft above ground level. Around 4,000 - 5,000 ft there is a calm layer with light winds. You can see the wind profile (below) at 9.30 am that day and it was showing signs of complex variations in direction and strength. This was early signs of a drop in winds between 5,000 and 7,000 ft. Eight hours later the winds picked up as shown by the second wind profile below

Below, 24 hours later there is a significant increase in winds over 4,000 ft but a slight decrease in winds from ground to 4,000 ft. Slightly more difficult to launch and reach 3,000 ft but a good prospect for world record altitude up to 16,000 ft. Unfortunately we had returned to Sydney earlier that day which is the main problem. We cannot spend long enough in the zone to take advantage of suitable winds when they occur.