Photo source: Daily Times

After a few weeks of rumors it looks like Punjab province in Pakistan has temporarily lifted the ban on kite flying for the Basant festival. This is bitter sweet, as I am sure some disrespectful fliers will still use chemical, glass or metal kite line and someone will likely get hurt. On the other hand kite flying is at the heart of the Basant festival for so many in Lahore and I am glad that thousands of kites will fill the skys again.

hopefully the police will actually enforce the no meta/chemical/glass line law and those who do still insist on using it are caught and they get the full penalty. When the ban was initially imposed last year the police were all but turning a blind eye to people flying kites.

Yahoo news writes

By ASIF SHAHZAD, Associated Press Writer
Thu Jan 4, 4:36 PM ET

LAHORE, Pakistan - Pakistani provincial authorities on Thursday lifted a ban on kite-flying imposed a year ago after several bystanders were fatally slashed by glass-coated strings used in the competitions.

The move came a month ahead of Basant, an annual festival that heralds spring and is marked by boisterous parties and the flying of colorful kites in the eastern province of Punjab and its capital, Lahore.

Fliers strengthen their kite strings with wire or glass, sometimes with bloody consequences, to give them an advantage in duels where competitors try to cut each others’ strings.

Even before last year’s festival got into full swing, seven people were fatally slashed, prompting authorities — with limited success — to ban kite-flying. They arrested hundreds who defied the regulation.

Among the dead was a 4-year-old boy whose throat was slit by a string coated with glass as he rode on a motorcycle with his father.

Salman Ghani, chairman of Punjab’s planning and development department, said the ban will be lifted during this year’s festival, scheduled for Feb. 25.

Glass-coated or metal strings will be prohibited, Ghani said, and authorities will issue licenses for selling kites and strings. Kites larger than 2-feet-by-2-feet will not be allowed, to prevent the use of heavy strings.

Offenders will face up to four years in jail or a fine of $1,800, Ghani said, adding that the kite-flying ban will be reimposed after the festival.

The Basant festival has been celebrated in Lahore for centuries. Basant means “yellow” in the Hindi language, a reference to the fields of blooming flowers that grace the area as spring approaches.

Islamic hard-liners in predominantly Muslim Pakistan oppose Basant because they consider it a Hindu festival.

Some more pictures of the Basant festival from Flickr…

This is an awesome Flickr photo set from flickr user “AhMaD RoXx in VanCouVer’s”.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/81473005@N00/sets/72057594056233074/

Found an interesting article on iafrica.com today about another project aimed at using kites to generate electricity. This concept is more of a merry-go-round with large kites tethered to spokes. Some prelminary trials have been done and a small test showed that it was possible to produce energy using this design. A team has been assembled and they will begin work on larger prototypes.

You can find more information here…
KWG Project

A cool flash simulation showing how the kites would fly can be found here.Kite power - Flash Demo

Kite power
Popular Mechanics, December 2006 issue.
Thu, 28 Dec 2006
By Alan Duggan

LET’S not beat about the bush here: unless we do something pretty damn dramatic to slow the pollution of our atmosphere, the world as we know it is going to change — and not for the better.

In fact, some scientists believe it’s already too late to halt the progress of global warming, citing the relentless consumption of fossil fuels, the melting of the ice caps and many other portents of disaster (for the sake of brevity and everyone’s mental equilibrium, we won’t go into the cavalier dismissal of the Kyoto Accord and other initiatives aimed at curbing the dreaded greenhouse effect).

Against that, we should be encouraged by the fact that scientists, engineers and assorted futurists are trying to avert the looming crisis with a host of strategies, including the development of safer and more affordable nuclear power (see “A new atomic age”, November issue) and proposals for the safe storage of nuclear waste — if there is such a thing.

Some of their ideas are workable only on the basis of hugely optimistic assumptions — for example, a sizeable proportion of the world’s motorists deciding to swop their muscular gas-guzzlers for wimpy fuel cell-powered vehicles costing three times as much — while others are characterised more by gee-whiz ingenuity than practicality.

Some of the more provocative ideas exist only in the form of outrageous concept drawings and small prototypes with cute names.

We’ve heard about wave power (actually, this is one of the few concepts with serious potential), geothermal power (again, quite effective, but not suitable for rolling out on a large scale), wind power (experimental wind-powered turbines are already doing their bit in South Africa), and many other strategies — including (as we recall from our recent Great South African Inventors Competition) at least three utterly foolproof designs for “free energy”.

Now meet a concept that must rank among the most original yet — kite power.

Read the rest of this entry »

Kite flying in Pakistan has been a touchy subject over the last couple of years. The government is now trying to come up with a way to allow its citizens to participate while making it safe for the general public.

I think no matter what happens some people will still insist on using “manja” type line or even worse wire or chemically treated mono-filament line…

“The Pakistani News Paper wrote

Here is a short video showing some of the amazing kites that are flown in Guatemala during the “day of the dead” celeberations.

Here is a link to the article I blogged last year about this same holiday…Kite flying: day of the dead

MLive.com is reporting that four separate law suits have been filed against Kite Tube maker SportStuff Inc.

This was inevitable, the lawyers waited until there was blood in the water and then started actively soliciting kite tube victims to file suits. Some of them, I am not sure if they are related to these 4 suits, even used this site to advertise their services. All in all I am not entirely sure how I feel about the families suing SportStuff for their loss or injuries.

On Nov 20, 2006 - Mlive.com writes

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Four lawsuits have been filed against the Omaha company that made a flying tube that has been linked to boating accidents that killed at least two people and injured 39 others.

One of the lawsuits claims a Canadian man died while riding a Kite Tube in Ontario. Another was filed on behalf of a Michigan man who claims he was injured when he was ejected from a Kite Tube and struck the water.

SportsStuff Inc. voluntarily recalled 19,000 Wego Kite Tubes in July in cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. The commission said it knew of two deaths reported in Wisconsin and Texas.

The company’s kite tubes are 10-foot-wide inflatable rafts tethered to the back of a powerboat. When the user pulls on the handles, the tube becomes airborne, turning the rider into a human kite.

“I think it’s just an unsafe product,” said Ronald J. Palagi, the lawyer handling all four of the lawsuits filed in Douglas County District Court last month.

Palagi said he expects to file seven more lawsuits by the end of the year.

Besides SportsStuff, the lawsuits name a Florida-based marketing company, World Publications Inc.

SportsStuff referred all calls about the lawsuits to Houston attorney Michael Beckelman, who was on vacation and did not immediately return calls for comment.

In an interview with the Omaha World-Herald, Beckelman declined to comment on the lawsuits.

In its letter to consumers, SportsStuff said the company does not believe the Wego Kite Tubes are defective or unreasonably dangerous. But SportsStuff agreed to the recall “in an abundance of caution.”

Other stories about Kite Tube law suits:

Wrongful death suit filed against kite tube manufacturer

China Daily has a story about a kite stopping air traffic at an airport in China. Hmmm I am curious why they just didn’t go out and cut it out of the sky… very very expensive kite

Airport closed due to mystery kite
(China Daily)
Updated: 2006-10-24 08:48

A kite forced the closure of Zhanjiang International Airport for half a day after it was found flying near the runway in the Guangdong port city over the weekend.

The incident took place at about 6:15 pm on Saturday, when a 2-metre-long kite was seen flying in the sky only 200 metres away from the runway.

After failing to locate the people who were flying the kite, the airport authority had to close the airport down. Two departing flights and four arrivals had to be cancelled or diverted to other airports, and 477 passengers were left stranded in airport waiting rooms overnight.

The airport returned to normal operation 12 hours later on the early Sunday morning when the kite fell into farmland nearby.

Guangzhou Daily

Correction: I would like to point out that there is an error in the report below.

The FAA have stopped Richard Crawford’s attempt at breaking the world kite altitude record.

the NPTelegraph writes, click here for the whole story

CALLAWAY - Just days before Richard Crawford was to attempt the world record for kite height, the Federal Aviation Administration put the brakes on his plans.
Crawford, from Milliken, Colo., had planned to put his homemade kite 15,000 feet into the air Saturday at the Callaway Kite Flight.
He thought he had been given the proper FAA clearance and was looking forward to the event. He even had sponsorship lined up to help fund it.
Saturday winds probably would have cooperated, but the issue of air travel safety prevailed. Crawford said he was disappointed but will continue to try to find a way to set the record.
He said it has been suggested that he work with the military in an area already classified as a “no-fly zone.” The closest such location to his home is in Guernsey, Wyo.
The current record for kite height is 13,509 feet set by a Canadian in 1995.

Here is the latest article from the Canadian Press about the kite tube and the recall. TheStar.com - Kite tubes pulled from market

There are some important things to note for Canadian kite tube owners.
1) SportsStuff has confirmed that the recall affects Canada and 2) Transport Canada is investigating the kite tube.

A spokesman for Sportsstuff confirmed the recall includes Canada.

A spokeswoman for Transport Canada’s Marine Safety division said the tubes just came on the regulatory body’s radar last week.

“It’s a safety concern for us,” said Kristen Goodnough.

“But given that it’s just recently come to our attention, we’re reviewing the activity to see if our regulations apply.”

Goodnough said Transport Canada is expecting a decision sometime next week.

Even this blog gets some play (even if it’s not by name )

The founder of a Canadian weblog about kites said he takes issue with the suggestion that users can control the kite tubes.

“From a kite flier’s standpoint, someone who actually builds kites and understands the multitudes of variables that go on there, it’s not going to happen,” said Bill Wilson, 32, a Halifax software development manager.

He found the discussion forums on his website inundated with comments about kite tubing after he made a post in February.

“The majority of people perceive a level of safety that’s not there. Whether you can control it a little bit or not the problem is, all it takes is a wind gust, and you’re (seven to nine metres) in the air,” Wilson said.

Cheers,
Bill

Josh Banks of Banks Photos sent me this picture a few days ago.

Photo by Josh Banks www.BanksPhotos.com
click for larger image

Here is what Josh has to say about the photo…

This photo was taken from our boathouse in Chetek, Wisconsin on July 4,2006. I was walking down to the boathouse with my camera and saw this guy on a kite tube. I took the photo, removed my camera from my eye to watch the action and the next thing I know he slammed into the water. We went out in our boat to talk with him. Although very stunned, the rider was uninjured and unwilling to try it again anytime soon for more photos. Once I opened the image on my computer I was completely surprised to see the rider in the air. The rider was not tossed this high above the tube, actually the tube was at his height about a tenth of a second earlier. When I took the picture I did not realize the rider had been thrown off the tube. To me it looked like the rider was on the tube having a great time. Suddenly, the tube dove into the water and the rider followed, this all happened much too quickly for me to react with my camera for another shot. I estimate that the rider is easily 30 feet above the water. The conditions were quite perfect for a flight to this height. The boat is eading west, into a strong wind at a good clip.

Sportsstuff Wego Kite Tubes Withdrawn from Market after Reports of Deaths and Injuries

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), Sportsstuff, Inc., of Omaha, Nebraska is voluntarily recalling about 19,000 Wego Kite Tubes.

CPSC staff is aware of 39 injury incidents with 29 of those resulting in medical treatment. Those injuries include a broken neck, punctured lung, chest and back injuries and facial injuries. Sportsstuff has received reports of two deaths in the United States and a variety of serious injuries. Sportsstuff has been unable to determine the cause of the incidents. Nevertheless, the company has withdrawn the kite tube from the market and is undertaking this voluntary recall out of an abundance of caution.

The Sportsstuff Wego Kite Tube is a 10-foot-wide, circular, yellow inflatable watercraft designed to be towed behind a power boat. A rider in the tube becomes airborne by pulling on handles attached to the floor of the tube. Model 53-5000 is printed on the tube near the product valve. The floor of the tube has black caution warning stripes. The cover for the product bears a skull and crossbones and the statement “Never Kite higher than you are willing to fall.” The tubes were imported and sold through marine distributors, mail order catalogs, and various retailers from approximately October 1, 2005 to July 11, 2006 for about $500 to $600.

Consumers should immediately stop using the kite tubes and contact Sportsstuff at (866) 831-5524 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. CST Monday through Friday to learn how to obtain free replacement products. Consumers can also visit the firm’s Web site at www.sportsstuff.com for more information.