Kites!

Kites ranging from completely controllable to the highly unstable.

The event which really sparked the creation of the League Of Mad Scientists was the Smithsonians Kite Fly in Washington DC, in March 1997.

Mad Scientist #1 (MS1) Jeff Sieracki built a mutant giant 2 control line kite with a 10 foot wingspan.

MS1's kite flew extremely well. Despite its size it was able to perform loops and dives and swoops and all sorts of things.

Mad Scientist in Training (MST1) Rebecca Neumiller built a kite directly according the plans, but gets her MST rating due to her in the field modifications and relentless flight testing.

The kite of our Mad Scientist in Training had some structural difficulties. It's cross bar, made of soda straws, kept bending in the middle. Undaunted, Rebecca field modified it by removing the cross bar completely. The kite managed several long flights, despite having some "interesting" failure modes.

MS2 (me) built a kite inspired by a vision: "I want at least one kid at the Kite Fly to say 'Look! A Flying Saucer!' The secondary goal was for it to actually fly.

MS2's kite easily achieved its first goal. Many kids, and quite a few adults, seemed fascinated by its highly reflective silver mylar material. The saucers flying qualities left a lot to be desired. Those aliens must be extraordinary pilots!

The kite did show a UFO's characteristic disregard for the safety of any human beings below, as it careended, wobbled, shook and spun in mostly failing attempts to fly. At the insistence of Mad Scientist #1 we added tails to the saucer, which did improve its flying qualities, resulting in a flight during which Mad Scientist #1 had a repeat of my original vision. For a moment the saucer and the Washington moment stood together beneath a sparkling blue sky.

Here is MS! #2 trying to guide the saucer into a safe landing. These attempts usually failed. However, the abundance of expendable human lifeforms saved the saucers complex equipment from unrepairable damage. It used 4 control lines. Interestingly, this quadruple redundancy resulted in a complete lack of control. Maybe the saucer just couldn't make up its mind? (Maybe I just couldn't fly worth a hoot? Nawww.)

Future mods will include a long tail for stability, removal of the trendy "fins", and replacement of the 4 line control system with a single line unit.

The flying saucer kite will get similar mods. grin