Following other American makers, Flying Wings has brought out a 2-m kite this year with very radical flying characteristics. Flying Wings has put two versions of the kite into its catalogue: standard and a SUL framed in G-Force Skinny's The manufacturing quality is good, with rolled seams and nice hardware.

However, in my opinion, the joints are a bit clumsy for a SUL kite. Parts such as the joints on the leading edges and the stand off's are locked in place. The sail and the leading edges are in polyester fabric and the nose consists simply of two layers of Dacron, though I felt it could have used an additional reinforcement, like Kevlar, because the nose is often put under stress during freestyle.

The UFO flies well in light winds. It is very stable and precise. It turns well, cuts good angles, and stops and slides very well. The kite's wind range is limited and you'll find it hard to take it out in winds over 10 mph.

The UFO is a true freestyle specialist, performing all the moves in the book very cleanly and gracefully. One small idiosyncrasy: when axeling the kite almost turns itself upside down and shows you its back. This can be a handy feature as you can stop it in this position. The UFO is also good at a number of more demanding moves, like yo-yos, belly landings and flat spins. It especially likes to do figures on its back, nose facing the flyer, remaining stable and in the centre of the wind window. It virtually takes off on its own from this position, very impressive! Flat and helicopter spins are also in the repertoire.

The Flying Wings UFO was one of the nicer surprises at the last KTA. A complete kite which offers flyers with little experience of freestyle flying the possibility of learning a great deal, while still enabling advanced flyers to enjoy hours of fun without ever getting bored.