The Flying Machines of Flugtag

Alan Taylor
Jul 27, 2015
25 Photos
In Focus

Since 1992, Red Bull has been organizing Flugtag (“flying day”) events around the world, where participants build and pilot homemade flying machines off a 28-foot-high flight deck above a body of water. Entries are judged for distance, creativity, and showmanship. The aerodynamic qualities of many of the creatively built aircraft are questionable, and most do not so much fly as... plummet. In 2013, the team “The Chicken Whisperers” set a distance record of 258 feet (78.64 meters) in Long Beach, California. Gathered here are images of Flugtag events over the past several years.

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A participant operates a homemade human-powered flying machine during the Red Bull Flugtag event in the southern Indian city of Bangalore on September 28, 2014. #

Abhishek N. Chinnappa / Reuters

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The flying machine “How Iconic” takes off from the launch ramp into the water during the Flugtag competition on Sydney Harbour on April 6, 2008. #

Anoek De Groot / AFP / Getty

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“The True Anglian” flies off a ramp on Serpentine Lake in Hyde Park, London, during the Flugtag competition on June 7, 2008. #

Sang Tan / AP

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Participants send their aircraft into the water during Flugtag at Hudson River Park in New York City on October 5, 2003. #

Chris Hondros / Getty

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Former jockey and television personality Allan Robinson poses before a team briefing during the Red Bull Flugtag held at Mrs. Macquarie’s Point in Sydney, Australia, on April 6, 2008. #

Mark Nolan / Getty

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The “Aliens” team competes during Red Bull Flugtag 2010 in Kiev on June 19, 2010. #

Sergei Supinsky / AFP / Getty

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The “Ilikeitdirty” Flugtag team, dressed up as the Sasha Baron Cohen character Borat, competes in Stockholm on June 30, 2013. #

Jonathan Nackstrand / AFP / Getty

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A flying team falls into water after taking off during the Red Bull Flugtag 2013 in Kiev, Ukraine, on June 2, 2013. #

Sergei Chuzavkov / AP

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A participant rides his craft during the Flugtag Russia 2013 competition on the outskirts of Moscow on July 28, 2013. #

Maxim Shemetov / Reuters

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A participant rides in a homemade flying craft during the Red Bull Flugtag event at West Kowloon Heliport in Hong Kong on October 10, 2010. #

Bobby Yip / Reuters

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Team “Super Squirrel” flies off a ramp in a man-powered aircraft during the longest flight competition on the Serpentine in Hyde Park, London, on August 3, 2003. #

Sang Tan / AP

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Competitors take part in the Flugtag event in Valparaiso, Chile, on February 8, 2014. #

Martin Bernetti / AFP / Getty

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A makeshift aircraft is launched from a platform into the Moskva River during the Flugtag Moscow 2011 competition on August 7, 2011. #

Mikhail Metzel / AP

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An Israeli man fles towards the water after taking off during the Flugtag 2011 competition in Tel Aviv, Israel, on June 3, 2011. #

Oded Balilty / AP

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Members of the “Enterprise” team send their aircraft off the edge of a pier into the river during Flugtag at Hudson River Park in New York City on October 5, 2003. #

Chris Hondros / Getty

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A participant operates "Flappy Bird," a self-made flying machine, during the Red Bull Flugtag event near Hong Kong's financial Central district on May 11, 2014. #

Tyrone Siu / Siu Chiu / Reuters

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A participant from the Global Point team from St. Petersburg, during the Flugtag Russia 2013 competition on the outskirts of Moscow, on July 28, 2013. #

Maxim Shemetov / Reuters

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A pilot falls during the Red Bull Flugtag Russia 2015 competition in Moscow, Russia, on July 26, 2015. #

Sergei Karpukhin / Reuters

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Members of the team “The Great Red Wingadillo” fall from the launch ramp towards the water during Flugtag on Sydney Harbour on April 6, 2008. #

Anoek De Groot / AFP / Getty

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The “Tchoomak Airlines” team competes during Red Bull Flugtag 2010 in Kiev on June 19, 2010. #

Sergei Supinsky / AFP / Getty

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“Bull-Run” team members launch their makeshift aircraft made in the shape of Buran, the Russian space shuttle, into the Moskva River during the Flugtag Moscow 2009 competition in Moscow on August 9, 2009. #

Misha Japaridze / AP

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A participant attempts to control a craft during the Flugtag Russia 2015 competition in Moscow, on July 26, 2015. #

Sergei Karpukhin / Reuters

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Members of the "Flying Duff" send their aircraft off the edge of a pier during Flugtag in New York City on October 5, 2003. #

Chris Hondros / Getty

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A participant sits in his falling flying machine at the Red Bull Flugtag competition in Hong Kong on October 10, 2010. #

Kin Cheung / AP

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The “Chicken Whisperer” craft soars at National Red Bull Flugtag Long Beach in Long Beach, California, in 2013. It landed in the water 258 feet from the launch platform, breaking the world distance record. #

Carlo Cruz / Pr Newswire / AP

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