There is a lot of new info to glean from this video. We see a continued retreat from the overoptimistic flygen claims. Commercial release is conceded to be years away. The turbine on a wing is confirmed to have severe noise issues; it sounds like a giant vacuum cleaner. If you look closely you can see the conductive cable strum wildly during a pop-gun launch, as it would during many conditions, like snubbing up after a slack-tether transient. Peak strain is imposed on the airframe by the additive & canceling transverse wave reflection at the attachment point, made far worse by the cable's copper mass. We get see how vast a land scope is required by sparse winged single anchor systems. A hypothetical VTOL launch is featured, but then why is a pop-gun launch required for a far smaller (easier to VTOL) kite plane? The proposed landing cradle is a springy affair, but high "negative" loadings on the wings are foreseeable if the aircraft ever has to be winched in fast without enough VTOL lift. The CTOs look to me rather haggard, as one might expect given the mounting difficulties. Danger & expense will grow quickly now.

Once again we see the AWEC PR machine willing to pretend aerobatic E-VTOL robot flygens are the only game around. As these extravagant concepts continue to disappoint there will tend to be a "investment winter" effect, but at least for now we are all getting a fine boost in mainstream awareness.

Kite Energy May Soon Take Off