Kite Flying

A kite is a wing on a string — and the string is not a detail.

elevation angle—

altitude—

downwind—

pull at your hand—

tension at the kite—

kite L/D—

C_L / C_D—

angle of attack—

ideal angle, no line—

lost to line drag—

lost to weight—

line-drag group Λ—

wind speed

line length

flying line

line drag coefficient

kite area

kite span

kite mass

frame & bridle drag C_D0

what sets the angle of attack

angle of attack

bridle tow point, fraction of chord

lift model

Elevation angle against wind speed

Does a harder wind fly a kite higher?

The whole wind range, for the default kite

What actually pulls the kite down

Two published lumped tether-drag rules, against the exact answer

Two published lift models that do not agree

Flying line, compared

How this was checked

Grid convergence

Controls — including the ones that had to fail, and the one that would not

Approach to the closed-form limit