fly a kite : it ’s an age - old mob tradition , so quintessential there ’s even aDisney songabout it . Many people will have happy retentiveness of kite - flying on a cheery afternoon ; but , did you love that this most impeccant of hobbies could actually be a hotbed of jurisprudence - breaking ? There are more ordinance around kite safety than you might cerebrate !
How high can you fly a kite?
Under their jurisdiction , you may only aviate a kite below a height of 60 meters ( 197 metrical foot ) . Any higher , and you ’d need to search particular permission . interchangeable rules have been dress by theUS Federal Aviation Administration , and here you get even less margin . Kites may not be pilot above a top of 46 meters ( 150 feet ) , and you ca n’t scrimp on the palm either – kite must have colored pennant or pennants on the cosmic string , at least every 15 meter ( 50 feet ) .
confessedly , it may be a challenge for your intermediate amateur kite partizan to achieve the dizzying heights of20 African elephants stacked on top of each other .
The particular laws and regulations governing kite - flying vary massively around the world . So , before point out on a windy twenty-four hours , it ’s always best to double hold the rules in your area .
A worker prepares manja by applying pink paste containing powdered glass to kite string. Image credit: Parikh Mahendra N/Shutterstock.com
Where can you fly a kite?
So , we ’ve make that you ca n’t fly a kite as gamey as you like , but can you at least do so in the location of your choosing ? Predictably , no .
Here , again , the UK has an antiquated law that could come in into play . TheMetropolitan Police Act 1839prohibits kite - flying in a public shoes if – and here ’s the key point – it ’s likely to annoy anyone else . Incidentally , the same clause in the lawmaking also makes it illegal to skid on an polar paving material , in case you fancied switching to that activity in the winter .
Of naturally , this is wide open to interpretation – one person ’s irritation is another ’s aerial spectacle – but it ’s worth bearing in mind that , should you be flying your kite in a crowded park for case , you could practicably fall cruddy of this rule , and possibly put down yourself witha fineto boot .
There ’s another , more graspable , factor that also governs where you may and may not fly a kite : other aircraft . In the UK , if you ’re within 5 kilometers ( 3 miles ) of an flying field , you have to keep your kite even lower to the primer coat , below 30 meters ( 98 feet ) . You must avoid flight of steps paths for takeoff and landing place , and you ’re required to take steps to invalidate low - aviate craft like eggbeater and hang - glider .
Similar principle utilise in the US and elsewhere . As a dominion , it ’s believably good to guide in the opposite direction to the nearest airfield if you ’re off for a daub of kite - flight .
Beyond the actual legislating , there are also somesensible precautionsthat any kite enthusiast should take to avoid personal injury . Flying a kite anywhere near pylons or overhead transmission line is unquestionably not recommended , and even tall trees if you may avoid them . Should you incidentally get your kite entangled in a power pipeline , do n’t attempt to remove it yourself : instead , call the electricity company . And , in oecumenical , it ’s skilful to be aware of your environment to keep yourself and others dependable .
Flying a kite might sound like the most benignant of activities , but there have been cases where this sport has turn downright nasty , and even deadly .
The darker side of kite-flying
in the beginning this year , six people were killed and at least 176 injured during the annual Uttarayan kite fete in Gujarat , India . A banned praxis involving surface kite strings in powdered glass was blamed for the deaths – it ’s beenreportedthat the prohibition is seldom enforced , and the covering transmute the string into a razor - discriminating weapon .
The shabu - coated drawing string , call manja , is sometimes used in traditional kite - contend competitions to take into account one champion to cut through an opponent ’s kite string . These competitions are a popular feature of kite - vanish festival in India , Pakistan , and Bangladesh , and similar practice exist in the Middle East and South America too . But manja has been ban at the Uttarayan kite festival for good reason : not only does it posea substantial riskto human looker , as certify by the tragic deaths seen in January , but it ’s alsoa threat to bird life .
This may all seem a world forth from gay afternoons in the park ; but , whether it ’s a huge kite festival or a solo escape , it is worth getting to hold with the law of the sky .
