LEARNING TO FLY A FOUR LINE CONTROLLED STUNT KITE

On the market today are many types and variations of four line controlled stunt kites. These kites vary in design destinctly. Some of the first four line kites as we know them today were delta-type dual line kite modified to four lines. In the late 1980's, Lee Sedgwick, promoted the four-line flying with facinating results at various shows and competions.

The first four line kite designed as the a four line is the Revolution. The Revolution is a flat kite with one long horizontal spar on the leading edge and two vertical spars. Til Habermann and Udo Rudolph from Germany developed the Twin shortly there after which is also a flat kite. It looks like two diamonds side by side with a spar through the center and two vertical spars. At least one very early four-liner with close similarities to the Revolution appeared on the market and rapidly disappeared due apparent patent infringements. Several four line foils have been developed having similariies to a parafoils with four control lines instead of one or similar to a peel with four control lines. Recently the Synergy-Deca came on the market having a very extraordenary modern design. The Synergy-Deca as a very interesting way of flying. One feature which no other kite has is the ability to roll toward you down the lines. With correct controlling, you can roll it right back out again.

I will choose the Revolution as the kite to learn to fly. The Revolution is one of the more difficult to learn to fly, thus when you understand how to fly it, then all other four liners will become very easy for you to fly. Another reason I shall choose the Revolution is because it has become very popular all over the world. The first four liner I flew was a Spin-Off that I modified to four lines. The second was a Twin. Then I flew the Revolution which I found not very easy to understand, thus for me a real challenge.

The basic controlling difference between the four-liners and two-liner is so drastic that a excellant two-line pilots quite often finds it more difficult to fly a four-liner then some one who as never flown a stunt kite. Some of the basic controls in comparison:

Function      two-liner control          four-liner control 
----------  -----------------------    ------------------------------------- 
take-off     pull both handles evenly    tilt both handles evenly backwards 
right turn   pull right hand,            tilt right handle tip forwards 
             push left hand              tilt left handle tip backwards 
left turn    pull left hand              tilt right handle tip backwards                     push right hand             tilt left hand backwards

After this, the concepts of flying a two-liner delta and a four-line Revolution are so different, it is very difficult to compare them.

Some of the major problems I have noticed with pilots learning to fly the Revolution for the first time are:
- flight lines are not the same lengths
- winds are too light or too strong
- pilots try to fly it like a two liner
- pilots over control the Revolution

As a starter ask an experienced Revolution pilot to test(tune) fly your Revolution first. He or She should be able to tell you if the line lengths are set up properly. This same person can help you on wind conditions. If winds are too light only the more experienced pilots will be able to fly. This is of course dependent on the revolution type being flown and the experience of the pilot. A normal Revolution I, can be flown on short lines in zero wind by a very experienced pilot with out excessive effort,where a pilot with little experience won´t be able to fly a Super Ultra Light (SUL) Revolution, at almost 100 grams lighter,in very light winds. A normal Revolution I can be flown in winds up to 5.0Bf, at which time you are already pushing it's limits. This means you are starting to stretch the sail and if you crash slightly too hard you can say bye bye to a spar or two, these spars are not cheap. If your Revolution is flown consistantly in strong winds, after a short time you will notice that the sails has stretched. For a while this stretching can be corrected by adjusting mainly the vertical bungees. If you are careful with the winds you fly in, your sail will last a lot longer. Anyway, in time you will need to replace the sails. Yes, Revolution does have a replacement policy for sails. If you encounter any problems with replacing a sail write or fax Revolution directly. A good rule of thumb is if you weigh from 80 to 90Kg and the Rev. I starts to pull you across the ground, land it disassemble it and put it back in its bag. For stronger winds choose a Revolution II or modify a Revolution I with about 1/3 venting in the sail.

As a starter I would suggest wind strengths from 1.5 to 3.0 Bf. One of the first problems you may have, this being particular to experienced two line pilots, is the two-liner push pull method of flying. Try to keep your wrist as close as possible together. If you are still having problems later, tie a rope around your wrists something like hand cuffs with about 20 cm play between the wrists. This should help you a lot. The Revolution I, does not accept the two line push-pull method of flying at all. This will result in pulling the Revolution I out of the sky, thus an unwanted crash. The Revolution II, is a bit more forgiving and can accept some of the two line push-pull method.

Whether to have some one help you start the Revolution or do it all yourself is really up to you. Too much help can result in you not trying hard enough, becoming lazy. No help means you must always set up the Revolution yourself each time you crash. Thus you maybe more careful how you fly. Over control will most likely be one of your next problems, so let us start to fly now learning how to prevent over steering.

SAFETY WARNING:
Please make sure your flying area is free of any personal or objects. If someone crosses into your flying area, land your Revolution out of thier way and wait for them to move out of the way. Better yet, find yourself a field where there is plenty of room. Then you can make all the mistakes you want without others noticing it.

Set the Revolution up in the following method. Connect your lines as described in the instructions. With the lines layed out, connected to the handles and Revolution, stake the handles at the lower connection with a metal nail, screwdriver, tent stake or what ever you want. Now go to the kite and set it up with the leading edge facing the sky. Tilt the Revolution backwards, meaning the leading edge is behind the trailing tips in reference to the handles. This prevents the Revolution from self launching. DO NOT leave the Revolution in this position unattended as a person pulling on the upper lines or tripping on the lines may cause the Revolution to self-launch.

The first thing I want to teach is vertical flying, meaning up, down and hover. To do this you must understand what effect the controls have. If you tilt both handles at the same time back, meaning the top of the handle towards you, the wind pushing on the sail will cause the Revolution to lift upwards. If this so happens to be exactly perfect, meaning:
- the angle on the handles is exact
- the lines are exactly the same length
- the sail is perfectly linear
- the spars are perfectly the same
- the bridle is perfect linear
- the wind is totally constant at precisely the same direction
- you start exactly from the middle of the wind window
then the Revolution, would rise perfectly straight up. Unfortunately none of these will be exactly true in real live conditions. Only under simulation is this possible. You may come very close but never exact, thus some control is required. To compensate for this you must understand how to control this and what effect the controls have on steering the Revolution. So a bit of theory is needed. If your right hand tilts a little further back then the left hand, under the perfect conditions above, then the pressure of the wind will cause the Revolution to propel to the left. Just look at a fan's blades. If the left side of the blades are tilted toward you and the right side of the blades are away from you and you blow on the fan blades, the fan would rotate left or counter-clock-wise. This is exactly what happens with the Revolution. So at first, start your Revolution exactly in the middle of the wind window. Use very light controlling as the Revolution at first tends to over-react. Tilt both handles evenly back, letting the Revolution rise no more then 3 meters. Then tilt both handles forward and let the Revolution carefully land. If all went well it went relatively straight up and back down. If the Revolution moved up and to the left, then this must be compensated for by ever so lightly tilting the right hand forward. If the Revolution moved up and to the right, then this must be compensated for by ever so lightly tilting the left hand forward. As you fly the Revolution down, meaning backwards, then you must reverse all your movements. This means you must reverse your thinking. If the Revolution moved back and to the left, then this must be compensated for by ever so lightly tilting the right hand back. If the Revolution moved back and to the right, then this must be compensated for by ever so lightly tilting the left hand back. In time you will actually stop directly thinking about the hand movements. You will actually react instinctly, meaning totally by feel. One of your early problems will be the one or both tips flipping over. If one tip flips, this can easily corrected for in most case by pushing the grip forward for the tip that has flipped. If both tips flip at the same time, then you could be in for trouble. Just hope for enough room and drop both handles. In a future article you I will teach you how to flip both tips and get out of it with smoothness. I want you to practice flying the Revolution up then down until you are moving relatively perfect. During this try to hover the Revolution about a meter above the ground. In areas where the ground is not flat and the winds are low, the wind may be at zero or turbulent at the ground level thus you may have to fly a bit higher above the ground.

The right-side up hover may be difficult. Right-side up means that the Revolution leading edge is facing toward the sky, parallel to the ground. If the Revolution keeps falling , the upper lines might require some shortening to help here. This shortening can actually be done by lengthing the lower lines. Add a short loop on the end of each lower line. The actual lines themselves should always remain the same length. In the DraMa 2/94 article from Bernhard Malle, he describes a technigue of attaching a line with knots in it to the Upper and lower connections of both grips. This is the best way to make your adjustments.

Once you feel pleased with your vertical flying., you need too practice flying on the sides. This means the leading edge is now perpandicular to the ground. Start the Revolution as before and bring it into a hover about 2 meters above the ground. Now rotate the Revolution 90 degrees to the left by tilting the left hand slightly forward and the right hand slightly back. As the Revolution comes into position reverse these positions then try to hold the Revolution in hover at this angle.

To fly 180 degrees from this position just reverse the above procedure.

When you feel comfortable with these manuevers, you should work on flying upside down. I must point out that, I recommend that you keep your grips up, just as when you fly right-side up. If you turn the grips upside down, you are just adding another confusing factor to the game.

To learn to fly upside down, I would suggest starting upside down. This means with the trailing tips facing up toward the sky with the leading edge parallel to the ground. Gently push the upper tips of both handles slightly forward. The Revolution will rise up backwards. If it rolls slightly right, this may be corrected for by tilting the left grip back a little bit. If it rolls slightly left, this may be corrected for by tilting the right grip back a little bit.

One big tip, as suggested by my brother, is to picture your hands on the grips as they would be placed on the steering wheel of an auto mobile. You just kind of drive it through the sky. Turning left to go left and right to go right.

In the early stage I would suggest moving mainly one hand instead of both as this should reduce the chance of over-control.

Practice all these item carefully over the next two months, then I will lead you into more advanced flying with your Revolution in the next issue of DraMa.

Over-the-Rainbow,

John Mitchell
Munich, Germany
December, 1994

john@multinet.de