                                           CASA - Civil Aviation Safety Authority - Air safety - regulations
                                                       Air Services Australia - Airspace management

       In 2002 I was flying kites from my local fields. I didn't consider that I may breaking CASA regulations when I flew some delta kites to increasingly high altitudes over 1,000 ft above ground level. Very few kite flyers have knowledge of or care about the height restriction of 400 ft above ground level. The only reason I was aware of CASA's existance was
In most cases, flying a kite in suburbia to 500 or 600 ft above ground level doesn't really present a hazard except if flying close to airports. Flying a kite above 600 ft may pose a risk for helicopters which fly lower than fixed wing aircraft. In steady flight, light aircraft usually fly at 1,500 ft above ground level. Other aircraft such as commercial jets fly at various fixed levels such as 3,500 ft, 7,000 ft and multiples of 3,500 ft as dictated by routes, destination and traffic densities. Air traffic management is the reponsibility of Air Services Australia and I have to contact their operational centre several times a day when we are making record attempts. Just as a large bird strike can cause damage to a jet engine, a kite could be sucked into a jet intake although there are no incidences of this nature that I am aware of. I have seen read a report of a light aircraft having its prop shaft tangled with kite line, stalling the engine. The plane landed without damage but it could have resulted in a crash, serious injury or death. Any percieved risk is unacceptable especially when these risks can be virtually eliminated by sensible kite flying that does not interfer with aircraft. Just as important to me is the risk of aircraft cutting line or damaging a kite which would destroy a record attempt. The conditions for the kite altitude record attempts established by CASA appear to be very restrictive, however they don't present any practical barrier to our high flying activities. In fact I would impose most of these conditions on our operations without CASA because they are consistant with successful record attempts. The only conditions that restrict our flights on occasion is flying into cloud and having a large streamer attched to the kite is probably unnecessary. At Cable Downs blue skies predominate and if there is cloud it is often above our record target. Occasionally cloud may pass under the kite but this is unavoidable unless we don't fly at all!
Generally the great majority of recreational kite flyers keep kites below 300 ft. A kite at 400 ft is usually regarded as very high and many ordinary children's kites are nearly out of site at the altitude. In the USA kites under 5lb (2.3 kg) are not subject to restrictions as they are deemed of insufficient mass to present a problem to aircraft of any type and are probably too small to fly high enough to intrude into even the lowest flight levels.

        As my kites got bigger, it occurred to me that aircraft could be damaged or even crash if they struck one of my big kites. Even if this is a very unlikely event, it worried me. I searched for regulations and found them on the CASA site although it wasn't clear how some of these rules applied to big kites flown high. However, It became clear that my plans to fly high altitude kites needed clearance from CASA and I needed organise the record attempts in a structured , scientific and professional manner. I had no idea who to contact or how to approach CASA to get these permissions. In 2003/2004 it took more than 12 months of dialogue and negotiation to achieve the first approval to fly kites to high altitude. Initially I contacted several potential sites including Richmond Airforce base, Jervis Bay Naval Base and a previous site for the world hang gliding championship at Forbes. I tried Woomera test zone in South Australia but it became too complex to gain permission with bureauxcratic red-tape and it may cost a small fortune to secure a zone. Following consultation with several aviation experts they advised me to contact Rob Glen in Sports Aviation at CASA. Then the process went ahead in leaps and bounds.

      I finally had a broad zone west of a line between Griffith and Cobar where I could potentially gain approval but I still had to search for a farmer who would host the record attempts. I also had to find a property within 100 kms of a weather station for the for the wind data to be relevant. The only station conducting daily balloon sonde flights was Cobar. Thank heaven (orSome times the most obscure events can change the course of our lives. In this case it was the Sunrise program, a popular Sydney television breakfast show who had done a small story on the difficulties of rural communities in maintaining services for children. In this case Karen Viant was interviewed at Cable Downs about the impending closure of the mobile rural library service. I looked the story up on the Internet then got the name of the property. I found the property name on a topographical map. I looked at satellite images. I looked up references to Viant and found that Steve Viant was a Cobar Counsellor. I wrote a letter to Steve and Karen requesting they allow me to attempt the world altitude record. They replied that they were happy to host the record attempts.
         So I had the permission, the location, a weather station and all I needed was a winch, line, a kite, GPS and a trailer. There was a lot more to it that that but it was a start. For the first few attempts, CASA services were free but now for each series of attempts I pay between $500 - $600 for processing the application.
Rob Glen at CASA and I have refined the "instrument" to include a host of conditions. The NOTAM below is one of the conditions, that is, Air Services have to declare a restricted zone and I must communicare with Air Services staff each day.