Subject: Flight School II Review Just got finished watching Dodd Gross's new video. Pretty good effort, and filled with lots of useful info. Points of Reference: I know Dodd. Flown his kites, rode in his buggy, petted his dog, sat on his couch, and drank his beer. All at once!! The reason for posting this is to let people know that there is some useful kite info out there. As a new flier, many years ago, I stood disconcerted on my kite field with my Hawaiian Team Kite(fiberglas spars),150 ft of 300# spectra line, padded wrists straps(now discarded), in 5 mph, and couldn't figure out why the damn thing wouldn't fly like it did at the beach! At that time I would have given more than the price of the video to get tips, pointers, and advice on how to do it better and easier. My wife, Sherrie, would have given more to not to have to listen to me rant and rave about the money wasted on this piece of #***@!?><**&^. Unless you live in a area where there is alot of other fliers, you play in pretty much of a vacuum when it comes to this thing. Interpreting what an axel is without seeing one is pretty useless. So if there is a tool that one can use to be better, use it. Yadda yadda yadda Blah Blah Blah Review : Dodd presents you with a 6-step training program to teach the intermediate/advanced flier several new tricks, and procedures to do other maneuvers. The new video uses several split screen setups to allow the viewer to see his hands as well as the kite's movement during the trick. Excellent. The 6-step program takes you through the rudiments of learning to make the kite do things when you want it to. This will have spill over effects into other areas of your flying. Speed control, wind window, hand spacing, and timing are also talked about. Two types of kites are used in the video (Aerial and Legend IQ), and can be seen fairly well against the the sky. More use of graphics during the video telling the viewer where he is in the 6 step would be helpful. Kite action of the perscribed steps is good. Sometimes the explanations of what the kite is doing during a maneuver is confusing. Just back the tape up, close one eye, click your heels three times, and try it again. In this video , you get the Dodd we all know and love. You also get advice and instruction from a master class flier . Check it out, as well as his first video if you are just starting out. I'm good enough to do the axel. I'm strong enough to do it. I'm confident enough....................snap-crackle goes the 2 wrap. dquad@aol.com (DQuad) Flight School II is the follow up video to Dodd Gross's Flight School I. FS II is a "How To" for learning a few of the basic techniques to some of the more advanced maneuvers. The six steps is a hierarchial approach to learning where one learned skill builds the foundation for making the next skill easier to learn. For all of us on the net with those "how do you that?" type of questions, this video is excellent. First of all, the maneuvers shown are really good examples of what the maneuver should look like when they're done well. Full amplitude, precise angles, and sharp, distinct movement. The turns show clean angles, and true horizontals and verticals. The stalls halt the kite with the wingtips perfectly horizontal. The cartwheel is done while keeping the body of the kite in the vertical plane and doing the full roll on the ground. Despite the easy going and fun oriented delivery, all examples were executed with the full blown accuracy of a formal competition maneuver - which I liked very much. Secondly, the techniques demonstrated have passed the trial by fire test by being developed under the scrutiny of world classs competition. I.E., in 5 mph wind, nearly any technique will work when you want to stall a kite. Heavy wind will quickly expose faulty technique, though. Dodd's competition record speaks for itself. Personally, the thing that impressed me the most was the presentation on the snap stall. The snap stall is the root move to a whole family of related maneuvers that include: side slide variants, tip stabs, entry into side window turtles, center window stab landings, and the base move for any maneuver that requires a solid stall to set it up (i.e., stall-wrap, flat axel, stall-burst). Its a difficult move to explain properly, but this video does it extremely well. I've made it required viewing for my team. Its available from DJ Sportkites at: (800) 296-KITE, and (717) 246-1214. Good Winds, Bert