From: gbe@wheel.dcn.davis.ca.us (GBE) Subject: CopterKite Date: Wed, 29 May 1996 19:17:49 -1000 Organization: Davis Community Network Message-ID: Hello Fellow Kite Addicts, I just saw an info-mercial about the CopterKite. They said it was already in the Kitelines Magazine, but since I do not get that, maybe you all can tell me about it. It looked like a nice little novelty kite using a wind powered auto-rotating rotor to lift the kite and also act like a wing on a kite. The price was listed at $19.95 (big surprise right!) for 2 for $34.95. Please let me know if any of you have seen or read or bought one of these kites and tell me what you think. May the Wind be at your back and the Strings be in your hands, GBE = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = From: OU812 Subject: Re: CopterKite Date: Sun, 2 Jun 1996 05:59:24 -1000 Organization: The Why? Network Message-ID: <4osdos$202@news-f.iadfw.net> I've seen the WWW page for this kite...you can even become a distributor of such!!! = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = From: mjpellet Subject: Re: CopterKite Date: Sun, 2 Jun 1996 17:03:08 -1000 Organization: Lockheed Sanders Message-ID: <31B255EC.3EA@mailgw.sanders.lockheed.com> GBE wrote: > > Hello Fellow Kite Addicts, > I just saw an info-mercial about the CopterKite. They said it was > already in the Kitelines Magazine, but since I do not get that, maybe you > all can tell me about it. I have one of the "Gyrocopters" you mentioned. My 6 yearold son bought it for me a few years back. Flying toys are a big hit in our family. I have yet to get the thing off the ground for more than 15-30 seconds. I fully attribute this to not enough smooth wind during my attempts and lack of experience. I see the potential when the wind catches the rotor and you feel the lift, but the 'copter just rolls out of the wind window and crashes, grabbing the flying line and winding it up around the rotor (not too nasty to untangle). I think the 'copter is just a little too heavy and needs too much wind (which I don't ever seem to get enough of)... There is an 800 number on the packaging that you can call for help if you need it. The form factor prohibits sticking the thing into my kite bag so it does not often find its way to the beach. Also, the soft plastic construction seems like it would not survive storage in my trunk in the heat of summer, so I don't keep it with me as often as I do my kites. There is definite play potential here. I do plan a another week at the beach this summer, the gyrocopter will off the shelf of my kite room and back on the beach...aaaahhhh the beach.... See ya' = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = From: daveculp@bdt.com (Dave Culp) Subject: Re: CopterKite Date: Sun, 2 Jun 1996 10:17:16 -1000 Organization: Beckemeyer Development, Oakland CA Message-ID: > I've seen the WWW page for this kite...you can even become a distributor of such!!! Please, for all our sanity, *what's the URL???* (It'd be ever so nice if you'd e-mail it to me, too, in addition to posting it here.) Thanks! ################################################################### Dave Culp Speedsailing | e-mail to: daveculp@bdt.com 312 Flaming Oak Drive | Pleasant Hill, CA 94596 | http://www.bdt.com:80/home/daveculp/speedsail.html #################################################################### = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = From: kml@mathcs.emory.edu (Kevin Lahey) Subject: Re: CopterKite Date: Mon, 3 Jun 1996 16:32:16 -1000 Organization: Emory University, Dept of Math and CS Message-ID: <4p077g$o58@cssun.mathcs.emory.edu> In article , GBE wrote: > I just saw an info-mercial about the CopterKite. They said it was >already in the Kitelines Magazine, but since I do not get that, maybe you >all can tell me about it. URLs for the manufacturer: http://www.emrkt.com/gyro-kite http://www.gyro-kite.rotor.com I got one a couple of weeks ago. I'm not sure what to tell you -- if I had it to do over again, I'm not sure I'd shell out the $20. It is pretty difficult to get the kite to fly -- it requires *considerably* more than the 7 mph wind claimed on the package. Once it does fly, it looks (and sounds) pretty cool. It is fairly unstable in the air, though, and moderately fragile, as I found to my dismay out at El Mirage this weekend. :-( The kite itself is made out of plastic, with wire landing skids. Assembly is relatively easy -- you have to fasten the blades to a hub with screws, then snap the hub onto the kite, and push the landing skids onto a slot on the fuselage. The components definitely aren't worth $20, but, then again, where else are you going to buy an autogyro kite? I took the kite to work (NASA Ames), figuring that if I couldn't get it to fly there, I might as well give it up. :-) With the help of a whole bunch of my fellow computer geeks, I got it up, but it took alot of fiddling*. We had to play with the angle of attack alot to get the blades to really start moving. Once they did, though, the kite started to sound like a real helicopter, with a sort of quick whomping sound which was cool. It would then take off and fly for awhile, with me gingerly giving it more line. It was not very stable in the sky -- it was always shifting around. Both times we actually got it to fly, it ended up crashing hard at the end of the flight. One of my co-workers was completely entranced by my kite (despite what I thought was embarassingly poor performance), and went out and got one. He reported great success -- he lubricated the hub with graphite and flew the kite in high winds on the windward side of a hill. He claimed that it took alot of line and flew at a high angle. On enough line, it sounds like the swoops and dips of the gyro-kite have enough room to work themselves out. Encouraged by this, I took the kite out to El Mirage this last weekend. As someone suggested in another post, it *does* want to melt in the hot sun -- the blades sagged after being left in the back shelf of my car. I got it to fly in some reasonable winds, but it didn't want to climb much. It finally crashed, breaking off the rear boom on the (rock-hard) ground. If you really want an interesting (but flaky) kite, and are willing to pay a small premium to get it, this isn't such a bad deal. It seems like a pretty fun kite, especially if you are willing to be very careful about where you fly it, and if you have access to really strong, smooth winds. Feel free to post or send me mail if you have any more questions... DISCLAIMER: I've got nothing to do with the company. I may feel better or worse about them tomorrow, after I try to get some replacement parts. I'm just another kite-geek, trying to have some fun! Kevin kml@nas.nasa.gov kml@mathcs.emory.edu http://www.mathcs.emory.edu/~kml/ ---- *With less help, it might've taken less work to get it flying. :-) = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = From: "spectre5@hp.kites.com" Subject: Re: CopterKite Date: Tue, 4 Jun 1996 11:08:05 -1000 Organization: LavaNet, Inc. Message-ID: <31B4A5B5.271E@hp.kites.com> GBE wrote: > > Hello Fellow Kite Addicts, > I just saw an info-mercial about the CopterKite. They said it was > already in the Kitelines Magazine, but since I do not get that, maybe you > all can tell me about it. > It looked like a nice little novelty kite using a wind powered > auto-rotating rotor to lift the kite and also act like a wing on a kite. > The price was listed at $19.95 (big surprise right!) for 2 for $34.95. > > Please let me know if any of you have seen or read or bought one of > these kites and tell me what you think. > > May the Wind be at your back and the Strings be in your hands, GBE Be careful when dealing with this one we have never gotten one to fly the way it should and with the rotors spinning at the speed that it does, it could be dangerous to people in the immediate area should it come down the way it always does. -- AxoxmoxoA, Brian K. Hirose If you ain't livin on the edge, You're taking up too much space! = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = From: togilvie@ionet.net (Tim Ogilvie) Subject: Re: CopterKite Date: Tue, 4 Jun 1996 02:28:00 -1000 Organization: IONet Message-ID: <4p1a4g$d4b@ionews.ionet.net> In article <31B255EC.3EA@mailgw.sanders.lockheed.com>, mjpellet@mailgw.sanders.lockheed.com says... > >GBE wrote: >> I just saw an info-mercial about the CopterKite. >I have one of the "Gyrocopters" you mentioned. I have yet to get the thing >off the ground for more than 15-30 seconds. I fully attribute this to not >enough smooth wind during my attempts. I have a GryoKite (tm); probably the same type of 'copter you're referring to. It takes A LOT more wind than the instructions say it does (bottom of the wind range is supposedly 7 mph; probably takes TWICE that.) The rotors REALLY have to be humming to keep it airborne. In a good wind, though, I've staked mine out and it's flown on it's own for up to about 20 minutes at a time. >but the 'copter just rolls out of the wind window and crashes Mine had a tendency to roll in one direction, so I bent the rotor shaft slightly in the opposite direction to compensate, and it worked like a charm. Now, when axels get too boring, we can start working on translational lift speed, dynamic rollovers, and gyroscopic precession. :) Tim Ogilvie togilvie@ionet.net = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = From: rmasu@ix.netcom.com Subject: Re: CopterKite Date: Tue, 4 Jun 1996 04:24:56 -1000 Organization: Netcom Message-ID: <4p2ihe$gfv@sjx-ixn5.ix.netcom.com> gbe@wheel.dcn.davis.ca.us (GBE) wrote: > Hello Fellow Kite Addicts, > I just saw an info-mercial about the CopterKite. They said it was >already in the Kitelines Magazine, but since I do not get that, maybe you >all can tell me about it. > It looked like a nice little novelty kite using a wind powered >auto-rotating rotor to lift the kite and also act like a wing on a kite. >The price was listed at $19.95 (big surprise right!) for 2 for $34.95. > Please let me know if any of you have seen or read or bought one of >these kites and tell me what you think. >May the Wind be at your back and the Strings be in your hands, GBE I also saw that infomercial today! The thing looks pretty neat. But I bet it'll come out soon in kite stores for alot cheaper. I wonder if you could connect two lines to make it more controllable? = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = From: kml@mathcs.emory.edu (Kevin Lahey) Subject: Re: CopterKite Date: Wed, 5 Jun 1996 06:20:42 -1000 Organization: Emory University, Dept of Math and CS Message-ID: <4p4c4q$pom@cssun.mathcs.emory.edu> In article <4p077g$o58@cssun.mathcs.emory.edu>, Kevin Lahey wrote: >DISCLAIMER: I've got nothing to do with the company. I may feel >better or worse about them tomorrow, after I try to get some >replacement parts. Well, I just talked to the Gyro-Kite folks (1-800-99-ROTOR), and they promptly offered to send me a new body piece -- FOR FREE. I've certainly got nothing to complain about now. In future, I'll remember to fly my kite over soft grass, and in smooth, strong winds... Fly kite! Kevin kml@nas.nasa.gov kml@mathcs.emory.edu http://www.mathcs.emory.edu/~kml/ = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =