The Record height kite flight

     At the time of this writing, the record-setting kite for highest single kite flight is naturally a Delta configuration, flown by Richard Synergy. His kite has 270 square feet of nylon kite skin, measuring 30 feet from wing tip to wing tip, and is 18 feet tall, sporting hollow fiberglass spars 1.5 inches in diameter, flying on 270 pound woven Kevlar line 3/32 inch in diameter. The record was made on Saturday, August 12, 2000, at 17:44 EDT. This high tech delta kite flew from a field in Kincardine, Ontario, 860 feet above sea level to a height not less than 13,600 feet above sea level, 13,609 ft above ground level. This established a new world record for altitude of a single kite on a single string. (The previous record was 12,471 feet, set in 1986.) The conditions were ideal, with low winds down low and high winds up high. Many mishaps plagued the flight but the 6-man crew pulled together to beat the record and not piss off the Canadian air Navigation board for leaving the kite up overnight!

     The flight lasted from about 12:00 (noon), until 21:10 in the evening. Although this flight was truly a milestone, and many have failed to beat this record since, there is still room for kites to fly much higher. -Synergy's Spool (24,000 feet of spectra!) had at least a few thousand feet left to go, and the winds were very strong at the time they decided to call it a night. This record is just itching to be beaten! 

     Unofficially, the "classic" kite altitude record is said to be 31,955 feet by a train of 8 kites over Lindenburg, Germany, on August 1, 1919. There are many skeptics of this number however, as it is obviously dubious that a pre-spectra line could have been manufactured to hold that extreme length. Still, it's on Germany's record books to this day.

The Record Size kite flight

     The largest kite ever flown is the "Megabite," which is 210 ft long (including tails) and 72 ft. wide, with a total flat area of 10,043 sq. ft. Designed by Peter Lynn (New Zealand), it was flown for 22 min. 57 sec. At the Bristol International Kite Festival, England, on Sept. 7, 1997.