PHILADELPHIA, PA--(Marketwire - March 5, 2010) - Get your friends and start thinking flying machines because Red Bull Flugtag Philadelphia is officially coming to Penn's Landing on Saturday, September 4th. Applications are now being accepted for this outrageous flying competition that will take place on the banks of Philadelphia's Delaware River over Labor Day weekend. Applications can be downloaded at www.redbullflugtagusa.com and are now being accepted either online or via snail-mail. If you've got the guts, want the glory, or just know someone you'd like to push off a 30-foot-high ramp, don't miss what could be the flight of your life! Don't let the ground hit you too soon by missing the May 1st deadline.
WINGS OF WISDOM
For all first-time flyers, Red Bull Flugtag, which means "flying day" in German, is a competition that dares both the brave and the brainy to design, build and pilot homemade flying machines off a 30-foot-high ramp in hopes of achieving human-powered flight. But don't be fooled -- this is no ordinary flying competition. While distance is important, creativity and showmanship are necessary to impress the judges. These criteria have inspired such outrageous crafts as a sky-high Popemobile, an airborne outhouse, a flying fire engine, and even a replica of Santa and his sleigh to test their wings at Red Bull Flugtag.
While the sky may be the limit on creativity, there are still a few flight regulations. First off, all flying machines must be entirely human-powered (no external energy sources or stored power, so forget about the slingshots, catapults or anything besides your own burliness). Second, no matter what they say, size does matter -- all crafts must be less than 30 feet wide and must weigh no more than 450lbs (including the pilot).
SETTING THE BAR
Since the first Red Bull Flugtag took place in Vienna, Austria, in 1991, more than 80 Flugtags have been held around the globe, attracting up to 300,000 spectators for a single event. The record for the farthest flight-to-date currently stands at 195 feet and was set at Red Bull Flugtag Austria in 2000, but the U.S. record is not far behind, standing at 155 feet and set in 2007 at Red Bull Flugtag Nashville. After a year away from the U.S. skies, the pressure is on for this year's Flugtag flyers to blow these records away!
Red Bull Flugtag is free and open to the public. For more information, including applications, photos, and video footage from past Red Bull Flugtag events, visit www.redbullflugtagusa.com. For media inquires, contact Kerri Holt at (347) 952-5367 or kerri.holt@us.redbull.com.
