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WORLD ALTITUDE RECORD

 

APRIL 2007

After an 18 month break we were ready to go and fly kites to high altitude, possibly breaking the World record. I had completely rebuilt the winch over a 12 month period. It had a much more robust frame and was well integrated into the trailer. I also purchased a new TECO inverter and a more powerful 3 phase motor. The line was tested over its full 11,000 meter length at Baraganumble, a 2,000 acre farm near Dubbo. Making the long trek to Cable Downs from Sydney was Mike Richards, Hugh Moore and Barry Coppenhall, a kite enthusiast from England, now a Melbournite.

Left: Looking south west down airstrip at Cable Downs where all the kite flying takes place. It looked a little greener than October 2005 but still dry and dusty compared to the coast.The winds were a lot better as well and coming from the southeast quarter at good speed right up to record altitude. Pity the team wasnt up to speed! We needed to get an earlier start each day.

Here is the team plus young Ethan Viant, sheep station kid. L - R - Mike Richards, Bob Moore Barry Coppenhall and Hugh Moore. Photographer is Steve Viant, sheep station boss and father of sheep station kid.

A late start was crucial in our failure to use the good wind conditions. The kite arrived at 10,000 ft at 3.30pm, too late to work though the soft patch to good winds above 11,000 ft. We had to start winding the line in by 4pm to be down before last light. You can see from the wind profile displayed in the graphs below, on that day wind speed climbed significantly above 11,000 ft and the minor drop in wind  speed below 11,000 ft was only narrow and could have been negotiated with 30 minutes or less of winch work.
Text Box: Day 1 Mike and Barry arrive in Dubbo at 1am. I leave at 4am bound for Cable Downs, arriving at 7.30. Hopefully I can get setup quickly and be ready for Mike & Barry when they arrive about 10am. Get airborne at midday with a the 120 sq ft kite that was stuck in high winds Oct. 2005. Winds look ideal and are blowing from the South, gradually shifting to the south east as the day progressed. Twelve knots at ground rising to 20 knots at 8,000 ft and 25 beyond 16,000 ft. Kite climbs with some see-sawing of the winch between 2 & 4,000 ft then rises steady to 9,000 ft. It then gradually climbs through a soft patch up to 10,500 ft, with moderate line payout speed to continue a slow ascent . With more time I estimate an altitude of 16,000 feet could have been achieved. It will take about 2 hours to retrieve so start reel in at 4,30 pm. Must be down by last light to comply with CASA conditions. Get to about 3,000 ft agl when the line snaps and drifts off to the north west. Kite drifts quickly down and Telemetry tracks all the way to ground and enables recovery the next morning 3.7 km away. The break is caused by damage due to my poor handling in test flights at Baraganumbal a few weeks before.

Day 2 and winds have dropped slightlyabove 8,000 ft and significantly 2,000 - 6,000 ft. We needed an earlier start to give us time to work through the 8 - 11,000 ft zone.

Text Box: Day 2 The launch is delayed by recovery of downed kite. Retrieval uneventful but recovery of 1.2 km of line is time consuming. In the air at 11am using 120 sq ft white and black FCCD in 8?12 knot ESE breeze. Slight damage to recovered kite and not worth delay to repair. Some significant dead patches 3?5,000 ft but eventually broken through after 2 hours of winch work. Broached 8,000 ft about 3pm but running out of time to work through soft zone 8?9,000 ft agl. Start recovery at 4pm and land just on last light with strobe flashing brightly from 2,000 ft at 70 degrees. We talk about camping on the strip for the next series as at up to 6 hours may be required to work to altitude and 3 hours to recover. Forecast for tomorrow is similar with moderate easterly winds at ground swinging toward south at altitude.

Day 3 and there is some improvement ground to 8,000 ft but a softening of winds above, particularly mid afternoon. We ran out of time to work the kite beyond 10,000 ft.
Text Box: Day 3 In the air at 10am after delay with telemetry GPS failure. We put Michael?s Garmin Geko GPS on board. The GPSFlight telemetry is sorely missed as it provided live altitude readings. We use the theodolite plus line payout to measure altitude. The kite fly's directly to 7,500 ft then sits for an 2 hours before I work it to 9,500 ft. The wind loses strength and the kite starts to see-saw between 4 and 8,000 ft, requiring driving the winch to maintain altitude. I give up as I am unable to push it back past 7,000 ft. We ?stuff-up? the line out calculation for several hours and get very excited at 2pm when I think the kite is at 17,000 ft. It is at 9,500! DOH! The kite is flying into the sun for most of the day, in fact, most of the weekend, which makes viewing the kite by eye, scope or binoculars difficult. The white kite, however, is like a beacon in the sky and only becomes difficult to see when the sun is setting. We have a number of spectators during the afternoon and a visit from Nancy, editor of the Cobar Age with her husband Lindsay. She takes some pictures for an article in the paper. The kite is down at last light, again the strobe flashes brightly from 3,000 ft. The forecast for tomorrow is light winds. Mechanical line out meter is the way to go.

The kite altitude profile on day 4 from a Garmin Geko unit onboard the kite. The wind profile confirmed that the wind to high altitude had dropped although the ground to 3,000 ft wind was promising initially as shown by the kites rapid climb to 3,400 ft. After that local tempory thermals dominated the flight until the wind died at 2pm.
Text Box: Day 4 At the strip 7.30am and launched by 9.30. Wind gusty and moderate 10?15 knots from the ENE. Launches directly down the strip but soon reaches a ceiling of 3,500 ft. One foray to 4,20 ft but hopes soon dashed as the kite fails to maintain this altitude. After 3 hours of frustrating winch work, the kite comes to rest 2.7 km to the WNW in tree. Mike and Barry trace the line down and walk 4 km round trip. Steve comes down with his chainsaw and neatly cuts half a tree down to recover the kite undamaged. We declare the record attempt over. I try a new 8 meter delta and fly on thermals to 5,000 ft almost directly overhead. Barry has a play with his Asian fighter kite, flitting and darting all over the sky. Ethan, the young 6 year old ?master? of the property has been flying his delta kite today. He has spent a lot of time with us this weekend. So has the sheep dog. We pack up all the gear. ?Team Altitude? is born. Quote of the weekend from Barry ?Kite flying will never be the same for me now? Amen. We?ll be back.