First Asia "Flugtag" Draws Big Crowd in Hong Kong
- 14 years ago
The first Red Bull "Flugtag" held in Asia took place in Hong Kong on Sunday. A big crowd turned out to watch homemade flying machines plummet into the harbor. Let's take a look.
Crowds braved high winds along Hong Kong's harbor to witness homemade flying machines and their pilots attempt to fly off a six meter platform.
It was Asia's first "Flugtag"—or "flight day"—a yearly competition sponsored by Red Bull.
Over 40 teams showed up with their jury-rigged contraptions, many with little hope that their creations would fly for more than a few feet—if at all. But Flugtag is at least as much about the party, style and atmosphere as it is about flight mechanics.
[Daniel Lau, Animator, Contestant]:
"Our work is animator so we sit in the office all the time. So we try to go out and get some fun. That's our aim."
The flying machines come in all shapes, sizes and designs. Hong Kong based Milk magazine sent a team to fly a glider built mostly out of old magazines, plastic wrap and tubing. They had high hopes that the lightweight construction would give them an edge.
[Keith, Milk Team Member]:
"It's ingenious."
[Ant, Milk Team Member]:
"It's quite a light plane as well. It's made out of plastic pipes and most of the other ones are made of metal. So hopefully, fingers crossed, that will help us out a little bit."
Sadly, the team's hopes were dashed as the plane took a nose dive off of the platform.
The high winds coming off the harbor destroyed some of the flying machines before they could reach the end of the runway. But bad luck wouldn't stop the crowd from having a good time.
Flugtag was started by Red Bull in 1971 and so far has been held in 35 cities around the world.
Crowds braved high winds along Hong Kong's harbor to witness homemade flying machines and their pilots attempt to fly off a six meter platform.
It was Asia's first "Flugtag"—or "flight day"—a yearly competition sponsored by Red Bull.
Over 40 teams showed up with their jury-rigged contraptions, many with little hope that their creations would fly for more than a few feet—if at all. But Flugtag is at least as much about the party, style and atmosphere as it is about flight mechanics.
[Daniel Lau, Animator, Contestant]:
"Our work is animator so we sit in the office all the time. So we try to go out and get some fun. That's our aim."
The flying machines come in all shapes, sizes and designs. Hong Kong based Milk magazine sent a team to fly a glider built mostly out of old magazines, plastic wrap and tubing. They had high hopes that the lightweight construction would give them an edge.
[Keith, Milk Team Member]:
"It's ingenious."
[Ant, Milk Team Member]:
"It's quite a light plane as well. It's made out of plastic pipes and most of the other ones are made of metal. So hopefully, fingers crossed, that will help us out a little bit."
Sadly, the team's hopes were dashed as the plane took a nose dive off of the platform.
The high winds coming off the harbor destroyed some of the flying machines before they could reach the end of the runway. But bad luck wouldn't stop the crowd from having a good time.
Flugtag was started by Red Bull in 1971 and so far has been held in 35 cities around the world.