Hadn't tried this untill this past weekend at sunset beach. Was handing over the kite to Sunset Jim. So off harness the kite would just loss power and float to the ground.

Have checked all conections, they are as they should be.
Bridals check out with factory QI sheet.

Line lengths are good.

Act of God?:puzzled: Any thoughts?

So you are saying you un-hooked to hand the kite over and it stalled and fell? What were the winds?

Un hooked, the bar is all the way "in" and you should be powered up (full AoA) but in lighter winds you will just backstall the kite. Correct this by pulling the center strap all the way in to reduce AoA.

I've only flown one other depower before and it was the opposite of this one in that to depower this one, you pull the bar towards you. Seems backwards to me, but like I said, my experience on depowers is severely limited. Are Montanas suppose to be like that??

Had plenty of wind. probably 13-15mph. Yea was unhooked to hand off.
H"ave been noticing that the kite will stall when I pull the bar in. Should power up I know.

Sounds to me like the kite was oversheeted (not sure if that is a word).

When your not hooked in the bar will be in the full sheet position (closest to the chicken loop). In lighter winds this may be oversheeting the kite and causing it to back down out of the window and land. Same as pulling in the brake lines on handles. As you were saying that you were "handing the kite over" I assume that it was in light winds and this was the problem. Generally if you are going to unhook in lighter winds you will need to pull in your depower strap to compensate for the difference in the sheet. In strong winds the kite would probably just launch you when unhooked (depending on how the kite was set on the depower strap) and the kite wouldn't have dropped out of the air.

Or you could have just hit a lull in the wind at the time, coincidence maybe...

Quote:

Originally posted by sunset-Jim I've only flown one other depower before and it was the opposite of this one in that to depower this one, you pull the bar towards you. Seems backwards to me, but like I said, my experience on depowers is severely limited. Are Montanas suppose to be like that??

No, but it will do that if you stall the kite, which is what is happening. As Kent suggests, you are oversheeted.

The Montana III is a great kite.
I can launch my 9.5 in 6-8 mph and it will be a bit mushy and "backwards" at first. By that I mean that if I pull the bar in (normally to power up), it will likely stall and in effect depower. If I let the bar out, the angle of attack decreases, the kite speeds up, flys nice and starts to generate power. "Bass-Ackwards, right?

Now get the kite moving in the buggy or on a board and all is right with the universe as the kite generates its own apparent wind. Pull the bar in to power up and let it out to de-power.

You should be OK in 13-15 mph with the 7.0m, though. Play with the center power strap. Try tightening it to shorten the front lines and reduce AoA to prevent a stall.

Quote:

Originally posted by acampbell Quote: Originally posted by sunset-Jim I've only flown one other depower before and it was the opposite of this one in that to depower this one, you pull the bar towards you. Seems backwards to me, but like I said, my experience on depowers is severely limited. Are Montanas suppose to be like that?? No, but it will do that if you stall the kite, which is what is happening. As Kent suggests, you are oversheeted. The Montana III is a great kite. I can launch my 9.5 in 6-8 mph and it will be a bit mushy and "backwards" at first. By that I mean that if I pull the bar in (normally to power up), it will likely stall and in effect depower. If I let the bar out, the angle of attack decreases, the kite speeds up, flys nice and starts to generate power. "Bass-Ackwards, right? Now get the kite moving in the buggy or on a board and all is right with the universe as the kite generates its own apparent wind. Pull the bar in to power up and let it out to de-power. You should be OK in 13-15 mph with the 7.0m, though. Play with the center power strap. Try tightening it to shorten the front lines and reduce AoA to prevent a stall.

Will try adjusting the depower strap in the lighter winds.
As in sunsetjim's case this is my first depower kite.
Still learning the ropes with this one. I'm sure that by the end of this summer, if the winds continue doing what they have here I'll be old hat with my Montana.

front lines too long, the wind is blowing the out of the sky. or let the back lines out but you'll loose depower range. slowly pull in when at the zenith and watch when the kite falls back, look at the position on the main, that's how much too long.

try pulling the line in your depower system above the handles and locking it. that should keep the power. also jim said that you montana powers down when you pull the lines in. I'm not trying to intrude but it almost sounds like you have the top and bottom lines screwed up. Another comment: if your kite is flying and you pull the bar in you should feel a stronger pull and then in lighter winds it should power down this is caused by as previously quoted "oversheeting the kite"

You are not alone ... the montana III we flew did the same thing ... pull in the bar and the kite losses power. We messed with it for a few sessions in light and heavy winds and we finally moved on. I hope its pilot error and not a few bad apples. Let us know when you get it to work.

dakitez (new nick inserted, lol), I'm glad to see that I,m not alone in this.
Think I'm gonna play with this thing a little more.
See how it does in moderate winds (13-18mph), I hope.:duh:
Am gonna check fly lines this week end.

Since I've had the same problem in light winds and asked lots of questions, one thing I put together to help me get this right is "light-tight". If the winds are light, you need the depower strap tightened up. As the winds increase, you would let out the depower strap a little at a time. I've seen others using this kite on wheels and they were making it work like a charm. I'm anxious to get our Montana I haven't ordered yet and take a ride in the buggy with some stiff winds.

I had the 7.0 out at sunset beach last weekend. It will pull a buggy decent enough.
Just gonna have to play with this thing a bit.

Getting use to your first de-power and learning to buggy at the same time
does tend to get a little overwhelming.

It's a different game for sure. I agree with the rest that you needed to depower almost completely.

Funny thing is happening as I come to grips with my Psycho 13. It's my low wind kite so when I have taken it out I have had it trimmed almost full in. ( depowered ) . When the wind picks up enough to add power it's almost time to bring it in and play with my Pulse. I have never had it more than 50/ 50 yet ??? :duh:

Well, I'm glad to report that pulling in on the depower strap worked. Like I said earlier, I'm a de-power newb lol.
Kite flew llike a dream with the strap pulled all the way in. Played around with it all morning. Around 11 am the winds picked up to about 18 knots. Started playing with the strap position. Ended with me doing a rather impressive one handed superman. The landing hurt, but it was a good. Any landing you can smile at and limp away from is a good one

Thanks for all of your suggestions guys. You are all a wealth of infomation.

:puzzled::puzzled::puzzled:

and another way of de-powering in light winds is to use a different knot of the front (grey) lines. You will notice three knots (at the bar end). The one closest to the bar is most de-powered. It does the same as pulling in the strap.

Thus you can play with the straps and if that does not help, use a different knot position.

BTW: This is how depower kites work, nothing Montana specific or brand specific, just physics/aerodynamics.

Later
Tim

Thanks for the info Tim.

Hadn't even thought about the knots at all.

Am gonna have to play around with it.