American Kitefliers Association

Yes, these are excellent videos! I never understood why fighter kites aren't more popular in this country as they are inexpensive and interactive. Why buy a $2 Walmart  kite that flies  badly and does nothing when you can have a fighter kite for the same price!

Hi Todd , thanks for sharing your plan and the video's. I've been to Ahmedabad in 08 and  saw and experienced all the things in the video's. Been to the kite market , flew off roof tops , watched little children fly with skills that would put adults here in America to shame. Only thing I can think it's part of their culture and youngsters learn at an early age and fighter kites continues all thru life.
    Actually I think Fighter Kites is one of the fastest growing part in our kiting community. For many years now every AKA Convention has a fighter kite workshop and a clinic out in the field. Besides there is fighter competition as well. 
   Last Sept. I watched the world fighter kite competition in Dieppe France. OMG, they were flying what seemed like a mile high and streaked across the sky like bullets. Fierce combat that was absolutely amazing. Wish I had that talent.
  Some time ago I lurked on the Fighter kite central web site and realized this sport will become pretty significant here in the states.
Sorry Todd for stealing your thread.

CLIFF

Oh, one more point,,,there is a large group of Fighter Kite members here on the East coast,,,the 2011  AKA Convention will have big time fighter stuff going on.

Here is the link for Part 4:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9cVO3VEPnw

Hi Chuck, Hey thanks for posting part 4  ,,I guess I can say I'm a "Witness" ,  My trip to Ahmedabad was exactly like shown in the documentary, great memories. I think Indian babies are born with a kite in their hand. Every body ,boys and girls learn to fly as soon as they start walking. An amazing kite culture.

CLIFF

Hi to all as clifford shared his experience of visit to India, i have also been there in last year and the best thing about kite there is that they have a festival called Makar sankranti in the month of January and on that day the whole sky is full of various kinds of kites, and every one fights with each other and the last won surviving in the sky wins, i too participated in it but unfortunately after fighting with 9 kites mine could also not survive, but that was fun.

I'm pretty sure that growing up in India kids don't have much else to do other than fying fighters. That I type of flying is not well liked here in the states and is very dangerous. With glass coated line people can get hurt very easily. People are killed every year in India from line cuts and falling off roof tops. Thank god we don't fly that style here in the USA  If we did the AKAwould be sure to loose it's insurance for good.  I enjoy flying short line fighters  and have seen the numbers drop off in the last few years as far as competitors go. I did see a nice group of novice flyers at this years convention and hope that's a sign that fighters are on the rise again.

Glass coated cotton line is pretty bad, but does eventually disintegrate. The worst is when it is monofilament that is glass coated. That is so strong there have been instances of line draped across the road for unsuspecting scooter riders to have necks cut. The Indian government has banned that line, but it is very difficult to monitor.

As to convention, was it the fun of the kites, or the Corey organized hospitality? Even though the name, fighting (?) leads one to believe otherwise, the fighter group seems to have more fun and less controversy on the field.

Maybe the kids you are showing this to can see how lucky they have it in this country. We have child labor laws to protect our children we also treat boys and girls the same. I've read the kite runner and seen the movie if you like fiction you might like them both. If your thinking about flying fighters that's great start with a slow kite with some waxed linen line. If your thinking about becoming a world class fighter kite pilot you better sleep with one under your pillow. Keep up the good work Todd.

I got a short lesson from Lisa Willoughby  at Nationals in Seaside.  What a blast!