• Home

One month to go for ‘flying machines’

DUBAI — The teams selected for Red Bull Flugtag have been busy for the past two and a half months building their flying machines and getting ready to take-off for the second time in Dubai.

“Flugtag” or Flying Day in German is now in its second phase, known as the “Construction Phase”, which means that the 40 selected teams still have less then one month to turn their fantasy into reality by building the craziest, wackiest and most fun flying machines before they take-off from the Dubai Creek Park on November 23, 2007, at 1.30pm.

The deadline of the construction phase is October 31.

Andy Lawson, the Red Bull Flugtag Technical Advisor, said: “I felt the positive energy when I met the teams. Most of them are quite confident they’ll be able to break the flying record and are moving forward with the construction with a scientific state-of-mind.”

“My common advice to them is to get right the weight, balance and the centre of gravity. They are all going to plunge in the water, but we want them to fly first!”, he concluded.

Have your boarding pass ready because Red Bull Flugtag is set to launch soon and one of the 40 teams will be the brave successor of Leonardo Da Vinci and the Wright Brothers.

So what are the rules? All flying machines must be launched from a 6m high runway using human power only. Flying machines can be built using any material from paper to titanium. Dimensions are important as a maximum wing span of 8 meters and maximum weight 180kg is allowed.

During the event, teams are judged on three criteria: The ‘Distance’ — the further you fly, the better. The ‘Creativity’ — incredible, over-the-top flying machines can score high. And The ‘Best Performance’ — Teams must remember that they have 90 seconds to impress the jury and spectators before flying.