Date: Sun, 17 Oct 1993 17:14:50 -1000 From: Colin_Douthwaite@equinox.gen.nz (Colin Douthwaite) Message-Id: Organization: Equinox Networks Subject: Fighter Bridle Ratios FIGHTER BRIDLE RATIOS It seems that I have now got an important clue to flying Fighters without tails ! On 3 October at the "Air Force World" event I met a young flier, named Darren Smith, who sold me one of "Australian Fighter Kite's" Indian Fighters which is very similar to a George Peters Indian. I explained to Darren Smith my early troubles with fast spins and my need to use tails to get my fighters to stay airborne. He made one comment - " It's all in the bridling ". He told me to move the Bridle point _down_ until the spinning stopped. This fixed the problems. All my kites were had previously been set with the upper legs of the bridles as much as 1" ( 25.4mm ) too short. After bridle adjustment every one of my fighters will now fly without tails and will spin very gently in either direction when in flight. In almost every case I have ended up with the Upper/Lower legs of the bridle almost equal - the upper legs being approximately only 5mm ( 3/16 " ) shorter than the length of the lower legs of the bridles. This applies to all sizes of kite and irrespective of the total lengths of the bridles. ==================================================================== Kite Bridle Width x Length mm mm Lower/Upper Leg Ratio -------------------------------------------------------------------- Australian Indian Nylon/Fibreglass 698 x 584 348/345 1.009 Green Indian Paper/Bamboo 665 x 550 640/635 1.008 Black Indian 435 x 385 475/470 1.011 Paper/Bamboo ==================================================================== >From all this I conclude that: 1) The total length of the bridle is not very critical provided it is not too short relative to the kite size. 2) Original Lower/Upper Leg Bridle ratios were too large at about 1.15, the ratio should be nearer 1.01. 3) The 1.01 setting can be marked with a marker pen to serve as the reference point for minor tuning adjustments according to the variations in wind conditions. 4) If the Lower/Upper Leg ratio falls below 1.00 the kite starts to spin anti-clockwise only and when stationary it tries to fly upside down. 5) Ratios above 1.00 cause the kite to spin clockwise, with increasing speed as the ratio increases. And now ? ...... Back to the Laboratory for some more theories :-) :-) Colin Douthwaite New Zealand 18 Oct 1993 Email address: colin_douthwaite@equinox.gen.nz = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Date: Sun, 17 Oct 1993 23:22:18 -1000 From: salanne@convex.csc.FI (Simo Salanne) Message-Id: <1993Oct18.092218.1853@nic.funet.fi> Organization: Finnish Academic and Research Network Project - FUNET Subject: Re: Fighter Bridle Ratios In Colin_Douthwaite@equinox.gen.nz (Colin Douthwaite) writes: (Stuff deleted) >From all this I conclude that: (Stuff deleted) >4) If the Lower/Upper Leg ratio falls below 1.00 the kite starts to > spin anti-clockwise only and when stationary it tries to fly > upside down. >5) Ratios above 1.00 cause the kite to spin clockwise, with > increasing speed as the ratio increases. >And now ? ...... Back to the Laboratory for some more theories :-) :-) Well, here on the Nothern hemisphere directions must be vice versa ;-? Smooth Spins Simo = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =