kite line climbers

[Jeffrey Warren]

To save battery life & camera memory, and ensure a stable kite line before sending a camera up, has anyone used kite line climbers?

"Lifesaver(TM) Parachutes are a great catch. Kids love this kit of 5 reusable paper parachutes and a roll of peppermint Lifesavers for ballast. The small line traveler glides up to your kite, then launches the parachute and slides back down the line to you. Weighing in at 0.4-oz., a 4 1/2-ft delta will lift it. Assorted colors."

http://www.amazon.com/Lifesaver-Paper-Parachute-Line-Climber/dp/B001S3TOTG

For example, you could get the kite up to 2-3000 ft, put the camera on, send it up and let it come back down, then take the kite down separately. I imagine one might lose fewer cameras in that case. Anyone have experience with this, or imagine pitfalls?

Jeff

[Lentamental]

I know a least one person has worked on something similar, using a wing instead of a sail. The camera climbs the line until it reaches the end, then  the whole contraption dethermalizes, and comes sliding back down the line. Once it makes it down, you slide the pins back in, and send it back up.

--
In space, no one can hear your shutter click.

[Jeffrey B. Goodman]

I used to use a similar device, semi jury-rigged, that worked pretty well in dropping payloads from about 2000 feet in brisk conditions in California. Major problems we ran into include having cameras drift away in the breeze after drop, and having the climber jam, and a couple catastrophic device failures that were cool-looking, my fault, and pretty ugly.

 

We built ours off plans we found online using some hangers and such - maybe there are some that are a little more stable?

JBG