Kite Altitude record

About us

Cable Downs

CASA

History

Kites

GPS

Theodolites

Dyneema

Winch

Wind

Techniques

2004 October

2005 April

2005 October

2007 April

2009 April

2010 April

2011 Sept

2012 Sept

Contact

We aim to fly a kite to the highest altitude in the world

Designed by Robert Moore

Kite Altitude World Record

Hello, I'm Bob Moore.
I hope you find my website interesting. It's our story obout our quest to break the world altitude record for a single kite.

October 2005 on Cable Downs The 2 big DT Delta kites are 16 sq meters and 120 sq meters. The green and yellow delta is 2.25 sq meters. A 1.75 sq metre delta (purple & red) and a 8 sq metre Scott Sled (pink) rests on the ground

10,466 ft

6,500 ft

3,250 ft

Since 2005, each year, apart from 2006 and 2008, a small group of enthusiasts have travelled to Cable Downs sheep station near Cobar in western NSW, Australia, to fly big kites to high altitude. We are attempting to break the world altitude record for a single kite on one line. Our activities have the protection of an aircraft free zone provided by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) and Air Services Australia. So far we have flown a big Dunton - Taylor delta kite to 14,121 ft above ground level. This is just 388 feet short of the record. This record was claimed by Richard Synergy of Canada in the year 2000, when he said he flew a 270 sq ft Delta kite to14,509 ft above ground level. Our target is 15,000 ft above ground level but we can fly as high as 17,370 ft. I would like to thank the many people who have been involved, supported or shown interest in our record attempts including:
Michael Richards
Michael Jenkins
Roger Martin
Barry Coppenhall
Greg Moore
Hugh Moore
Steve and Karen Viant of Cable Downs for hosting the record attempts.
Robbie Buck of ABC 702 Local Radio
Nancy Shannahan of The Cobar Age
2DU radio
Daily Telegraph
David Horan - Australian Kiteflyers Society
DSM Dyneema for supplying line
Universal Instruments for the loan of theodolites
Lewis Pulleys for winch components

Dyneema®, the world’s strongest fiber™

Where eagles dare. A 2 meter eagle soars with the big DT Delta in October 2005 at 3,000 ft above the air strip.

Hugh and Greg Moore recovering line at the western end of the Cable Downs air strip October 2005. The kite had gone down after the electric winch motor burned out. During attempts to "walk the line down" a splice had separated with 2 km of line still attached. The line end then had caught in a tree keeping the kite flying at about 3,000 ft. The kite eventually came down on a property to the east, laying line over the tree tops. We recovered the line without much difficulty but it was effectively the end of our record attempts for 2005.

Glossary

AGL: Above ground level. The kite's altitude must be measured from the altitude of the launch point. The sea level (AMSL) altitude is the