So I took my Charger out on the buggy today for the first time in two months. We finally got enough thaw on the local beach that there is no longer snow, just the random landmine deep puddles.

I had a blast, and actually got some decent footage on my helmet camera that I may edit and upload somewhere.

At any rate, I noticed something about my kite today. It sometimes overflies me while standing still and with my hands off the bar. The trim can be let all the way out, or pulled most of the way in, and the kite will overfly. When it flies over, it stalls, the lines go totally slack, and it spreads way out to drift back into the power, sometimes even inverting if I just let it do its thing.

This is only a problem to me because the auto-zenith seems to be hit or miss because of this. I have all trim straps in the pockets let all the way out, just to make sure nothing funny should be going on there. When I fly, I consider myself a good pilot, so I know how to keep it from overflying as long as I am providing input, but as soon as I allow it to do its own thing it tries to overfly nine times out of ten.

Any of you with arcs have experience with this same thing? As I said, when I am flying, I know how to keep it from overflying. This is only a problem when I take my hands off the bar for too long. Besides this, the Charger is still pretty much my all around favorite kite to fly.

I'm not an arc expert, but I think any higher performance depower will do this. Both my Montana and Frenzy will do the exact same thing if I let it. They will speed to the edge of the window if allowed to do so. I think it's just a characteristic of a performance kite. I may be mistaken, but it's just what I have observed from past use.

It could be a tuning issue but from what you described and the conditions my money would be on gust surge. If the kite is at AZ it will surge forward with an increase in wind speed.

Auto Zenith is an awesome Arc feature but the reality is it really only works well in steady winds.

I was hoping to hear it is just s***ty wind. I can't remember the last time I flew in steady breeze. Although I have noticed my Charger favors the left side. If it ever tries to crash while hands off, it is on the left side. I have cleared all sand/debris from dirtouts, and made sure all straps are symmetrical, and my lines are equal lengths. I can't figure it out. Guess it is like some other things in life and just likes to hang a little to the left

That looks like the same issues I had with my original Charger 10m . Even the left hand bias.

My solution was to trade it for a 10m Synergy.

It looks like you were near it's bottom end being able to back it down with the bar ? Like it was falling back from zenith in the lulls. Is it possible it behaves better with stronger winds ?

I was about the middle of it's range. The wind was blowing about 14-18 when you saw me stall it. I had it completely powered up and pulled the bar all the way in as if unhooked. It would back most of the way down but would not go lower than 5 feet off the ground. It behaves better in steady winds, but 15-18mph is my favorite speed to fly it. It was just a crappy wind day. Gusts over 25mph and lulls at times under 10 mph. At one point it even fell out of the sky completely because the wind just stopped.

+1 to what Feyd said. When the wind is really gusty, try to keep an arc in motion as much as possible (whether riding or moving the kite). If you leave it at the edge while standing there it will overfly in the gust, fall back in the lull, power up through the window, and do it again.

When stopped / flying static, keep rear line tension (pull in the bar) to avoid it overflying too much when gusts hit and do the same if it starts to loose it's shape in a lull to avoid it inverting as it falls back into the window. Ohio winds are notoriously gusty. Like 15 gusting to 30+ with lulls of 5.

gusty winds are the worst,

perhaps some tuning will help some.

overfly ...considered rear internal strap change by 1/3-1/2 in to compress TE and create more drag, keeping it back in the window and steepen the power band.

left /right asymmetrical idle behavior ...tip adjusters, make sure they are exactly adjusted the same, always favor shortening to letting them out reinforces over and adds juice to loops and speeds turning up. and some could be different and fly perfect just gotta fly and see.

both will increase drag and rob the absolute bottom in light air performance. so if ride a lot of 6-8mph wind it won't do so well anymore, just let it out and the fun just keeps coming.

Thanks for the tips Phree, those all seem like good things to try as I am thinking about it. I currently fly with all straps let all the way out. I think my issues with overflying have all been bad wind. I went out today with a steady 20-25 mph wind coming perfect onshore from Lake Michigan and the kite was solid as a rock with hands off at zenith. I could even fly it down low on the edge of the window, take my hands off, and watch it float right back up to zenith and stick like I licked it and pressed it onto the sky.

demo- fwiw, i fly with my tips pulled in all the way, and mid strap about 1/2. I believe this is the same for carltb. Will definetly give a little more umpff and increase turn and pop
Scott

That sounds like it would keep the kite a little slow through the window and cause it to stall a little easier on the lighter end of the range. Also, I buggy and static fly only on this guy, so no lift or float really necessary. I will give it a shot though, and let you know how it goes. I am sure I will notice a huge difference from having all three let all the way out.