|
Vancouver, BC, Canada – August 31, 2006 – A flying air guitar, hockey shoe, grain elevator and a pirate vessel?
You’re really reading it correctly. And you would have seen them all them soar — or more accurately plummet — during Red Bull’s Flugtag Vancouver.
So what’s a Flugtag, anyway? Flugtag is a German word that means “flight day.” The Red Bull Flugtag is an event in which competitors attempt to fly in homemade flying machines.
Held for the first time in Canada on Aug. 19, teams of up to five people worked together for about two months building homemade, human-powered contraptions that one person piloted off an elevated flight deck, through the air, and into False Creek.
The object isn’t just to create an unusual craft that will fly, but to do it using creativity and showmanship.
The Big Shooter didn’t just fly better than the others; it made the North American Flugtag distance record as more than 40,000 spectators watched it soar 86 feet, or eight feet longer than the previous record set in 2004.
The flight gave the team the first-place honors and the grand prize — a choice between pilot lessons or $7,500.
“Pilot lessons,” Big Shooter pilot Mike Perreten said in a press release. “When I left the flight deck I thought I’m really flying.”
A four-man team wearing uniforms that were part bobsled and part Life Aquatic powered Perreten and Big Shooter, which was made out of Kevlar, aluminum, titanium, carbon fiber and Mylar.
Pirates of False Creek took second place – skydiving lessons - with a distance of 46-feet in a colorful craft that combined classic pirate ship aesthetics with bright graffiti.
In total, 31 teams from across Canada soared and fell into False Creek.
Flugtag will next come to the United States when 25 teams will take to the skies above Baltimore’s Inner Harbor on Oct. 21.
Can’t get there? Then do the next best thing. Play this online game to see how far you could soar.
Flugtag at a glance
- The first Red Bull Flugtag took place in Vienna, Austria, in 1991. Since then, more than 35 Flugtags have been held around the world — from Ireland to Brazil to the United Arab Emirates to San Francisco — attracting up to 300,000 spectators.
- The record for the farthest flight currently stands at 195 feet set in 2000 at Flugtag Austria. The U.S. record stands at 78 feet set in Cleveland, Ohio, in 2004.
- Teams are judged on distance, creativity and showmanship. And nothing is too outrageous. Past Red Bull Flugtag entries have included a pregnant cow, a diaper-delivering stork, a pimped-out Cadillac, a giant Oompa Loompa, and a lobster named Larry.
Source: Red Bull Flugtag
Flugtag rules
- Five people can be on a team — four pushers and one pilot.
- Only the pilot can be in the craft when it is launched.
- Pilots must be 18 years or older; however, those younger can participate as a team member.
- The flying machine must be human powered, less than 30-feet wide, and weigh less than 440 pounds, including the pilot.
|
|
The Barron Brats launch their craft in the Red Bull Flugtag held recently in Vancouver, Canada. Photo credit: Christian Pondella/Red Bull Photofiles
The Big Shooter makes its record-setting flight. Photo credit: Christian Pondella/Red Bull Photofiles
PIRATES! The Pirates of False Creek attempt to go flying in the Red Bull Flugtag held on August 19, 2006 in Vancouver, Canada. Photo credit: David Lang/Red Bull Photofiles
|
News Archive | Air Shows & Events | KidVenture | Young Eagles Newsletter
EMAIL
STORY
PRINTER
FRIENDLY
Privacy Policy 