JessicaWinkler wrote:
The following day my student dropped the 6m Obsession kite and after trying to relaunch it simply started looping with all lines intact. My student ejected almost immediately but the kite did not depower or stop looping. This time the kite continued to loop for about 15 minutes until finally he became very tired and released the whole thing. I recovered the kite and the student with no physical harm done and after closer inspection nothing had broken on the kite or bar.
Jessica, thanks for bringing these experiences up. In the instance of the the kite looping after relaunching, it sound like a bar end float got stuck around the bottom of the bar. Having been using a 6 meter, I'm guessing if was crazy gusty and the kite probably dropped with a little slack of the student maneuvered the kite back to relaunch position maybe catching the float on the bar. This would perhaps cause the kite to keep looping especially if they had the leash on the suicide ring and not the flagging ring. Could you tell from your vantage point if the bar traveled along the mini 5th line?
I fly obsessions and sometimes in lulls when my kite drops, I save it at the last second by pulling the float and then I let go. But I forget and sometimes the float gets caught up on the bar and I go for a ride on a loop or two.
These days when teaching, especially when going over safety systems, I don't just tell my students this is your first release and this is your secondary which lets you ditch the kite if shit hits the fan. Now I say, "If you think shit is hitting the fan, you need to be ready to ditch the kite fast if your primary is not doing its job."
I tend to not trust any system completely, there is always something that could happen and it's up to your decisions and actions to get you out of it.