• Consider hydrophobic materials and surface treatments for all parts of a kite system
  • Watch Liquid Bounce Off Amazing New Superomniphobic Material
    "This is a whole new kind of waterproof." By Clay Dillow Posted 01.17.2013
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• Consider on Jalbert-parafoil evolutes: drain holes
• "Come in out the rain, my son!"  Some rain events are also lightning events. Electrical grounding tethers and other safety measures are to be addressed.
• Hydrophobe
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• Related: icing, dew wetting, mildew, rot, weight change of the wing set, weight change of the tether set
• Notice that some kite systems have a niche purpose of collecting water from the atmosphere. 
• Some kite systems have a niche purpose of cooling drinking water.
• Visibility is to be carefully considered. Is the kite system relating with other aircraft appropriately? Are airspace rules being followed during rain occurrence? Put safety first.
• Capillary action may place water into places that may cause damage to the kite-system parts. Consider this in designing a kite system.  Consider that water drawn into tight places might become frozen; the freezing of water is an expanding scene; the expansion may crack and break parts.
• Wing covers that absorb water or even stay wet will change aerodynamic performance. Do you want the change or not?
• Many sport and hobby soft kites already have simple sand/water drains in the trailing-edge. Another helpful feature is a reduced frontal intake area (often with flap valves). A good example of all these features in a popular trainer kite is the HQ Hydra line. Parafoils, with so many cells, and the presumption of fair-weather use, have not required this capability. This point is a TACO omission, so it will be added in future versions. The obvious conclusion is that such drains be a design-default in safety-critical parafoil AWES, and perhaps be mandated in FARs.
  
  An intuitive parafoil drain design is to vent across all cells at the TE, as well as provide multiple small drains from wingtip to wingtip. Even hollow rigid wings need careful rain and condensation drain design, but single-skin concepts like Mothratech avoid the whole issue. Its well known that modern kites fly with only slightly reduced performance in rain (KiteLab Ilwaco flies single-skin experiments in rain routinely and Enerkite has reported parafoil AWES rain operation). 
  
  Lets not forget rain collection as a niche in our giant-kite design toolkit, with elaborate networks of gutters, drains, hoses, and tanks possible. Many hot deserts have considerable rainfall aloft that normally evaporates well above the surface, but in reach of kites. We also recall the ancient Polynesian kite magic of flying sponges into clouds to harvest fresh water. ~Dave Santos

We have the lore of a kite system helping to build International Suspension Bridge as an indication of the usefulness of kite systems placing line or cable where wanted. This topic thread invites collecting notes and technology to further cable-laying tactics by use of kite systems.  Kite systems would compete with other tactics: ground-crew cable laying, helicopter cable laying, powered unmanned drone cable laying, etc.  Kite-system cable laying (KSCL) could, by agreement, imply the laying of cables, ropes, cords, strings, tapes, webbing, conductors, optical cable, power lines, leader lines, pilot lines, threads, pipe, antennae lines, and the like.  Just when and where KSCL would win choice over alternatives will become evident eventually; analyses, simulations, and experiences would play to bring the world a fuller story. 

Where non-KSCL is done, one might explore the matter with: could KSCL have been a better choice?

• Duke Energy uses drones to restore power in Puerto Rico
  
• Rockets carrying pilot lines
• Cannons shooting line-carrying projectiles
• How are the cables between really far-apart cable towers installed?
• vaccuming a string through a pipe   
• ?

• Set line between poles.
• Set line between buildings. 
• Set line over a river. 
• Set line between two extant kite systems. 
• Set line across a lake. 
• Set line from point A to point B
• Set conductor lines to send electricity from AWES
• ?