Flugtag competion at Tampa
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July 19th, 2008
Flugtag Redbull
Fun and flight go hand in hand Saturday at the Tampa Convention Center as Flugtag comes to the area for the first time. It’s Red Bull’s annual competition where teams see whose homemade human-powered flying machine can fly the farthest.
This year, 35 teams are competing.
Josh Anderson is captain of his team from Tampa, Air Gilligan. They built the S.S. Minnow in about a month, using aluminum, pallet wrap, palm frans, styrofoam, and duct tape.
“Almost everybody my age had the experience of coming home from school and watching Gilligan’s Island. And always some wild scheme to try and get off the island. Never worked. And the inspiration was that we were going to, for once, have success,” said Anderson.
Teams are judged on distance, creativity, and showmanship.
“You know I was thinking 30 feet but I’m thinking now about 40, 45 that’s what I’m shooting for. I think we’ll end up in the top three,” Anderson said.
The first place team receives a pilot training course. Second place gets skydiving lessons. And the third place team will learn to paraglide.
“He is going to stay in this crouched position and then as we all go over the edge he’s going to push his legs out and hopefully what it’s going to do is pull the tail down and gain lift — maybe. There’s a 50/50 shot it’s actually going to work. We don’t know yet,” said competitor Gavin Anderson.
Flugtag means “flying day” in German. The gates open at 11 a.m. The first flight is at 1p.m. It’s free to spectators.
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