First proper test of big black DT Delta at Rooty Hill in Western Sydney. The current kites are identical except for colour.
First flight to high altitude using Spectra line and an electric winch. All attempts are at Cable Downs near Cobar in Western NSW Australia. This GPS data is from a Garmin Geko onboard unit and is downloaded to Mapsource software after retrieval of the kite.
Although these kites are not candidates for world record altitudes, they proved good kites for practicing construction and flying techniques. One of the larger kites reached over 4,000 ft at Cable Downs.
This DT Delta went to 4,000 + ft at Cable Downs
120 sq ft DT Delta at about 800 ft above ground level.
The first was a direct wind reel without the benifit of a capstan to absorb the line tension pressure from the line accumulated. Eventually the wood sides failed under the compressive forces. You can demonstrate the same forces by winding a piece of string around you finger. Even with moderate tension and 10 wraps the pressure becomes painfull. On the reel there would be over 8,000 line wraps.
