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Flight
When the Skydog Little Wing was reviewed, there was actually
very little wind—between 4 – 6 mph, and it was not
completely steady, as the wind would fade and come back.
Another kite, the HQ Limbo, which has a wind rating of 4-31
mph (per manufacturer specs) did not even get into the air,
despite repeated attempts. So that is a good
comparison point.
The Little Wing immediately took off, with only a small tug
to get it going. It caught the breeze and would stay
up even at the edge of the window. There was no
stalling or fading, even at that low wind speed.
The handling was predictable and solid. It was not
“twitchy” or “nervous” like another kite in the same
‘beginner’ class — the Beetle. Since the Little Wing
has both an upper spreader and a lower spreader (unlike the
Beetle, which has only a lower spreader—unless you buy an
additional “strong wind” kit) it is more stable in flight.
After enough flight time for an honest review, the Little
Wing went where it is designed to go – into the hands of a
little 7 year-old girl, and a 10 year-old boy. Neither
of them had even flown a dual-line kite.
Much to the delight of the kids, the Little Wing was
completely stable in flight. It was forgiving to some
of the kids’ more exaggerated arm movements, and once they
learned that only small movements were needed, they were
flying with ease. The 10 year-old boy even learned to
do loops on his own. They would take turns (about 10
minute intervals) or when one of them crashed at about that
time. But for the most part—they both kept it flying.
Cannot really tell how much abuse the Little Wing will take,
because crashes in 4-6 mph winds are generally pretty slow
and not very hard. The abuse test flight comes later
when stronger winds are blowing.
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