I tested out the kite that I've been working on for the past two meetings, and the weather was moderate. It didn't work and refused to fly upright. I ended up adding a bridle to the kite which is string attached to the frame attached to the flying line. Again, the kite refused to fly. After some quick searching, I'm learning to find that the bridle is actually crucial to flight. Depending on the placement of the bridle, the kite could fly or not fly at all. The distance of the tow point from the kite and angle of the bridle all affect how the kite flies, so I think I'll experiment with that next time (Public Lab).
I don't think there's much to flying a kite if I follow some directions online with exact dimensions, but I guess the whole point of building the kite is I figure out what's going on with the kite and how it works. If I play around with the bridle, i'll learn more about how the kite works. I think I'm starting to understand the learning process better than I have from class. Cliché sayings about failing before success and learning from experience are actually very relevant in what I'm doing except I'm not doing anything noble or life changing. Nevertheless, I see why they like to say the Greengineering Room is not a classroom. When you're building, you actually do something that requires you to make decisions and try new things that you only learn about in theory in classrooms.
For next time and life, in general, I should stop asking why when I don't have an immediate answer. It's very odd to ask a question and get the response that you have to find the answer with no direction, but it's also liberating to think you can approach the problem however.
On a side note, one person noticed me trying to fly the kite outside today. It makes me think that if we can't convince people in writing that they should join the club, we should just show them what we're doing because it's actually cool.
Citations
contributors, Public Lab. “Public Lab Research note.” Public Lab: Diamond kite bridles, publiclab.org/notes/lfamular/8-15-2012/diamond-kite-bridles.
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