Go Fly a Kite!

Helmut Spieser - Agricultural Engineer/OMAFRA Ridgetown
16 May 2008

We've all heard this phrase and it means different things to different people. "Go fly a kite" can have the following meanings;

• Go away.
• Get out of here.
• Hit the road.
• Get out of my hair.
• Go find something else to do.

Seldom does the phrase "go fly a kite" actually mean for you to get your kite, take it to an open area and let the wind carry it aloft. What does flying a kite have to do with spraying?

Depending on your perspective, the phrase "Go fly a kite" has everything to do with spraying and absolutely nothing to do with spraying. It all depends on your perspective. Let's compare the two.

Figure 1. When it is too windy to spray, it is a good time to fly a kite.

When flying a kite, life is fairly easy. If the kite takes off and stays up you can fly your kite as long as you want. If the wind smacks your kite into the ground on takeoff, you try again and again, hoping for success. When the wind is so strong you think the wind will shred your kite in mid-air, it's time to bring it in. With spraying however, you can still spray when you really shouldn't. You are protected inside your sound-absorbing, ergonomically designed, charcoal filter equipped, ROP protected cab. You are not at risk but adjacent crops may well be. Chances are, when it starts getting too windy to spray, conditions are likely just right to go fly a kite. To those that think kite flying is just standing there looking around, get a real kite. Under ideal flying conditions you can stand in one spot and use your skills to counteract the swoops and dives that the kite makes, just to make it interesting. When you have textbook kite flying conditions, as a kite pilot you don't have time to do anything else. All you focus has to be on the kite and its aerial acrobatic maneuvers. Similar to spraying, all your attention should be focused on the job at hand. Remember, if it gets too windy to spray, you can always go fly a kite.