3121: Kite Incident

Kite Incident

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Title text: Detectives say the key to tracking down the source of the kites was a large wall map covered in thumbtacks and string. 'It's the first time that method has ever actually worked,' said a spokesperson.

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Explanation

This is one of 52 incomplete explanations: This page was created recently. Don't remove this notice too soon. If you can fix this issue, edit the page!

In this comic, Megan sets up a kite using a fishing line, which while unorthodox, is not unheard of. Cueball exresses his concern regarding how high the kite is flying, which Megan dismisses, and from this point onward, the kite situation slowly worsens. Cueball suggests adding another kite, and this situation eventually ends with an absurd number of kites attached to the spools. The kites become so numerous and high-flying that they eventually blow in a circle following a jet stream, which causes air travel to be shut down as kites obstructing the view of the sky would be a major disturbance to pilots, especially low-flying ones. This event eventually reaches the news and Megan and Cueball are forced to issue a formal apology.

The title text alludes to an investigation technique seen in many types of media, where the investigator pins text and photo evidence to a board, connecting related evidence with string. This technique is also made fun of in 2244: Thumbtacks And String.

Transcript

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Discussion

First post! 162.195.34.112 21:47, 28 July 2025 (UTC)

hey :) i wrote the current transcription and it definitely doesn't look perfect so if anyone has any feedback on how to improve i'd rly appreciate it (also like to add that i think this is probably my fav title text in all of xkcd) stevethenoob 22:16, 28 July 2025 (UTC)

The last frame says it shut down global air travel. I think it's implied that the line of kites circled the world. 2001:8003:6490:9700:94EE:E801:7399:7FD9 22:45, 28 July 2025 (UTC)

I think, at worst, it'd be hemispherical travel that's disrupted (wouldn't cross over between northern and southern Hadley Cells at all), though of course that would still affect air travel in which at least one end originated in the northern hemisphere (Sydney to Buenos Aires, etc, should probably be safe to fly) and there'd be an abundance of caution anyway, at least until the rather one-dimensional threat is properly identified (and the nature/origin of its deployment).

Also, I think a plane could probably strike an actual kite or two without too much problems (much less substantial than a bird-strike, and they're designed to shrug off at least the smaller birds), and I can't see the kite-line being an issue, as even a high-strength fishing line is probably vulnerable to the mechanical concentration of stresses.

Though I'm surprised it has the tensile strength to lead around the world, prior to any contact with a plane, as all it takes is for a slight wind-differential and the force of numerous down-wind kites could end up creating a tension against the more steady release from the ground and the relative back-pull from all kites that are upwind of that point), either snapping the line or parting a knot between two adjacent spool-ends of line. You can use a fishing line well beyond its design limit by smooth tugging action/responding properly to the pull of the hooked fish at the other end, but localised jerks and jinks will be hard to avoid across thousands of miles of polymer chord flexing and reacting to the way each of its periodically-attached kits want to move at their respective locations along the 'master string(s)'. 92.23.2.228 00:18, 29 July 2025 (UTC)

Interrupting those 'inter-hemisphere' flights would likely have knock-on effects on other flights in the otherwise non-affected hemisphere, due to planes and crews being in the wrong place, disruption to flight slots, etc. - see for example how the Iceland volcano caused disruption right across Europe and beyond, even for flights in areas nowhere near the dust cloud. 82.13.184.33 08:50, 29 July 2025 (UTC)

It would not actively shut down southern-hemisphere traffic, though, just disrupt it. Ironically, could even mean those flights that fly have fewer take-off and mid-air delays, not needing to queue/enter holding patterns quite so much at the now much less busy airports - though that'd be trivial and just not eating into acceptable time-buffers that every flight should have.

And I can't envisage a London to Sydney (now rested, first-shift) flight crew and plans being the only ones that are able to now go from Sydney to Wellington as a new flight onwards, if that was somehow factored in. They could be as easily replaced by the Sydney to Tokyo ones who now can't set off, etc. (Or some shuffling between where pilots and plans actually are, as there'll be plenty of spares in Johannasburg, Rio, etc, otherwise sitting idle and unable to get 'north', even as others are actively held back from reaching 'south'.

It was the more localised effect of the Icelandic volcano (or occasions like when Russia shot down the airliner over Ukraine) which meant that the 'fringe' of effected area to be avoided impinged into routes further away, and required flights that would merely skirt the area to consider their options, but the fringe of a whole hemisphere (which doesn't affect south-only specialist airlines) is arguably less significant, by proportion. Iceland was particularly disproportionate because the significant transatlantic travel tends to take paths up through the downstream ash-cloud, even between the extreme southern Europe and its equivalent US latitudes. Great circle (short) segments don't, however, cross the equator, but aftually bend away from it, so two south-of-equator endpoints have a flight path that's safer.

If an individual airline is running a (say) (North->)South1->South2->North(->South1) triangular service, normally, then it might have a problem if it doesn't run a S1->N->S2 counter-circuit with another plane (that also isn't 'trapped' North at the wrong moment), but can at least S1<->S2 until things clear up. And arrangements with other airlines (with opposingly 'south-trapped' resources) can probably paper over mutual gaps in coverage, if there's enough common goodwill for the duration. 82.132.237.17 09:31, 29 July 2025 (UTC)

Well for that matter, the Iceland volcano didn't totally shut down European air travel, but people still spoke about it in those terms. So I guess it depends what you mean by 'shut down' - whether you take a literal interpretation of 'there is none of it at all', or a somewhat looser common parlance interpretation of 'severely disrupt'. Also possibly depends on your interpretation of 'global air travel' - whether you take that to mean 'any air travel anywhere in the world', or 'air travel on a global scale' (i.e. long-distance international flights). 82.13.184.33 08:13, 30 July 2025 (UTC)

This is not the first time that Megan has expressed an interest in flying kites, nor the second. It's also not the first time that Cueball has taken kite flying way too far. 2600:4040:5432:F700:80B6:B228:2EDB:6FC4 00:46, 29 July 2025 (UTC)

I love this one, for me it is very much early xkcd spirit in there, with just people out and exploring, having fun, trying things... I don't think I can really describe, anyone feels the same? --Lupo (talk) 04:40, 29 July 2025 (UTC)

I agree, this very much feels like it could've been somewhere between .com/800 to .com/1200 and one of the better ones at that stevethenoob 10:59, 29 July 2025 (UTC)

Years ago someone told me that he had met Randall through their mutual interest in kites. 47.34.153.128 (talk) 07:50, 29 July 2025 (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

Me and my Dad had something similar happen when I was 15. He built me a big (8 foot tall) box kite and we went to fly it in a field beside our house. Problem was that on the other side of the field was the city's airport. All of a sudden a truck with flashing lights came charging through the field to where we were. A guy got out, looked up at the kite, looked at us, looked up at the kite again and said "Ummm.. you're going to have to fly that somewhere else - we're picking you up on radar." This was in the 90's before drones were a thing. I can imagine the panic when an unedentified blip shows up on radar with no transponder. That kite was lots of fun (though a little dangerous in high winds) it had a harness to hold it and it dragged me across a field once before my Dad grabbed me. Maybe I should make a quick release for it. 64.203.66.182 (talk) 14:30, 29 July 2025 (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

My cousin and I did this in the '80s with the same kind of kite. Kept tying on 200 ft spools of kite string until we went through 20 and couldn't see the kite any more. Tied it off to a fence and left it overnight. Tracked the string the next day (which never touched the ground) to the roof of a house a half mile away. How I wish we'd thought of adding more kites! -- BrickOfReality (talk) 15:19, 29 July 2025 (UTC) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

We need someone who knows Calculus to come in and model the dangling line as the catenary equation. I know just enough to know how much I dont know 😭 199.241.130.234 (talk) 15:44, 29 July 2025 (UTC) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

The weight of the string will be properly lifted by each kite. However, the horizontal tension will get higher and higher, as each kite needs lateral tension in order to resist the wind, and all the tensions will add up. This will decrease the depth of the catenary curve, but you will also need to increase the strength (and thus weight) of the string after not too many kites are added. -- Dtgriscom (talk) 16:15, 29 July 2025 (UTC)

if the kite is that strong, megan should NOT be holding the string with her bare hands. there's a reason modern kites have specially designed handles. (source: flew a big kite this summer, briefly tried to hold the string and Immediately regretted it) 73.190.140.221 16:40, 1 August 2025 (UTC)

The line is being fed via a ground-peg, perhaps only guided/released by Megan, who could be wearing suitable gloves/palm-protection that allows for enough friction without damaging either hands or 'string'. Given the open-ended (i.e. continually extended, by splicing in new spools) feed of line, I'm not sure there's a particularly better way than this. But I'm not anything more than an amateur kite-flier, so maybe I'm unaware of a better system (e.g. using proper friction-handling equipment on the spool side of the ground-anchor, feeding it and whatever passes it is now untouched all the way up to the kite(s)...) 92.23.2.228 19:51, 1 August 2025 (UTC)
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