Thanks. Okay, I understand that. But using a bridle and then say an airfoil orientated parallel to the shaft has some potential major benefits, so I potentially like that better. The question I would have is would it actually be that simple; just have a motor that cyclically rotates that one airfoil while it is going around the shaft for the controllable kites, and have no moving parts on the other kites, except for their clamps and maybe elevators or something. Is there some dumb mistake in my thinking or am I not understanding some major disadvantage?
The benefits would be: much lighter (but potentially more fragile) wings, if we assume you want larger wings for their higher Reynolds number; only have moving parts on the controllable kites, so less moving parts overall so less to go wrong; if things do go wrong, the kites are better constrained; and much easier control.
And then if you have lighter wings, you have to counteract gravity less, which would then hopefully give you less of an added drag penalty for the steering.
And thanks for the sketches. Previously or still my thinking was to perhaps do a variation of the second one, where you’d use either flaps on the wings or elevators on the tail to change the shape of the wing or the angle of attack. Which you would choose would depend on the tension in the triangular bridle and the moment arm about the center of gravity you chose for the triangular bridle attachment points, and then the drag losses vs complexity of either. More: The Pyramid - #60 by Windy_Skies
Edit: perpendicular to parallel…