Dont fly kites near power lines. DONT FLY KITES NEAR POWER LINES! But what can you do when a kite festival is located next to a 132 kV power line and the wind direction is guess what? With the fresh experience from Pasir Gudang I tied the Return (Uption) to a tree, some 10 m of line still on the spool and sat down on a chair in the shadow of the tree. The wind was steady and good; the kite flew nice and and high as usual. After a couple of hours I had run out of water and went to get a fresh bottle. Just as I got the bottle in my hand I noticed kites were coming down. This was the first wind drop of the day, and also the only one! I through a glance on my kite, and it was coming down too. Fast! I run back to the tree and pulled the line but too late: the line to the black arrow was tangled in the power line. Now this could be dangerous, but the kite line was already earthed through the tree, and a local guy came with an instrument that showed there was no voltage on the line. Assured that there was no conductivity in the line (very dry surroundings) I managed to take in the line as I approached the power line. Well under the power line I cut the kite line, let the kite fly majestically on its own and reported the situation to the committee. Half-an-hour before sunset the rescue team from the Electric Power company arrived. Three guys climbed up the pylon and one of these mounted a small trapeze sled on the dual power line, stepped on to the trapeze and slowly pushed himself towards the kite. This was hard work: he had to rest several times so it took him half-an-hour to get to the kite. There he pulled down the black arrow, cut lose the red arrow and sent it down (it narrowly escaped getting tangled in the lower power line), dis-assembled the black arrow in midair and threw it down to the rice field! Sails completely intact, just one spine spar broken and two cross spars missing!
Posted on: Sun, 09 Mar 2014 06:17:58 +0000
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