What the Kite

Safety

Kite safety: power lines, roads, storms and airports

Kite flying is a safe, gentle hobby when you pick the right place and the right weather. The serious risks come from electricity, traffic, aircraft and the line itself, and each has a simple rule.

Power lines: stay well away

Electricity can travel down a kite line, especially a damp line, a line with any metal in it or a kite with a metal frame. People have been seriously injured and killed this way. The rules are simple:

  • Never fly anywhere near overhead power lines, substations or transformers, in any direction the kite could drift.
  • Never use metal wire, metallic thread or tinsel in a kite or its line.
  • If a kite catches on a power line, let go of the line immediately. Don't pull on it, climb a pole or tree, or try to knock the kite down with a stick.
  • Call your electric utility to report it. If a line is down or sparking, keep everyone well back and call the emergency number.

Your local electric utility publishes safety advice on its website, and many utilities run kite safety campaigns in spring. Follow their guidance for your area.

Storms and lightning

Never fly a kite when thunderstorms are around, forecast or building. A kite line reaching into the sky gives lightning an easy path to the person holding it. If you hear thunder or see lightning, bring the kite down at once and head indoors or into a hard-topped vehicle. The National Weather Service in the US, or your country's weather service, issues storm warnings and lightning safety advice.

Roads, railways and parking lots

Choose a field where the kite can't reach a road, even if the line breaks. A kite diving toward traffic can make a driver swerve, and a line stretched across a road can catch cyclists, riders and motorcyclists at neck height. If your kite comes down near a road or railway, don't run after it. Wind in the line and collect the kite only when it is safe.

Airports and aircraft

Kites share the sky with aircraft, including helicopters and small planes flying low. Fly well away from airports, airfields, helipads and hospital landing pads, and keep kites low unless you know the rules where you are.

Aviation authorities set the rules for kites. In the United States, the Federal Aviation Administration covers kites in its rules for moored balloons, kites and similar objects, with specific limits for larger kites. In the United Kingdom, the Civil Aviation Authority publishes the rules. Other countries have their own national aviation authority. If you plan to fly a large kite, fly high or fly anywhere near an airfield, check the current rules with that authority first.

The line itself

  • Never wrap line around your hand, fingers or wrist.
  • Wear gloves with any kite that pulls hard. Line sliding fast through bare hands causes friction burns and cuts.
  • Don't use cutting line coated with glass or other abrasives. It causes serious injuries to people and birds, and some places ban it.
  • Keep the line away from people, pets and paths, and never let it drag across anyone's skin or neck.
  • Pick up every scrap of line before you leave. Lost line traps and injures birds and other wildlife.

Strong wind and big kites

Large kites and traction kites can lift a person off the ground or drag them across it. Use a kite sized for the wind and your weight, fly with a way to release it quickly, and stay on the ground in anything above a fresh breeze unless you have the experience and gear for it. Check the wind ladder before you go.

Before every flight

  1. No power lines, roads, railways or airfields within reach of the kite.
  2. No thunderstorms forecast or in sight.
  3. Wind within the kite's range, and no big gusts forecast.
  4. Gloves on for any kite that pulls hard.
  5. A clear area downwind, with nobody walking under the line.

This page gives general safety information. It doesn't replace the advice of your electric utility, your local authority or your national aviation authority, and their current rules always come first.