inALTITUDE:
Words & Photos: Courtesy of Red Bull
Images used are from the Redbull Flugtag events held in Singapore and San Francisco
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Red Bull Flugtag 2012 to take flight On 9 December 2012, forty-five teams will be taking to the sky at the V & A Waterfront in Cape Town at the Red Bull Flugtag 2012. Teams, made up of four people, were challenged to build homemade, human-powered flying machines anything from the über serious to the just plain ridiculous - that will be piloted off a six metre high ramp in the hopes of achieving flight at the event. Flugtag may mean 'flying day' in German, but all these crafts ultimately splash into the waters below. Teams are judged on their flight’s distance, as well as creativity and showmanship. Johannesburg-based Team Gaga is sure to impress the crowd with a flamboyant Lady Gaga-inspired craft and outfits. “We love what she represents and of course we’re huge fans of hers,” says the charismatic team leader, Josephine Sebesho. The four-woman crew plans on giving the crowds a grand show with big hair, glitter and loads of theatre. It's sure to be a great and entertaining day out, where spectators can look forward to being treated to the pilots and crews hilarious pre-flight antics, elaborate flying machines, cringeworthy attempts at the longest flight record and subsequent plummets into the wavy waters below. The festivities start at 11 a.m., and will take place right in front of the V & A Waterfront’s Jetty 1 - the perfect spot to watch the teams channel their inner Amelia Earhart or Wright brother.
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Building Guidelines The guidelines that teams had to follow when building their flying contraptions were as follows: 1. You will be launching into water,
so make sure your craft floats. Wherever possible select materials that are lighter than water anyway (wood and plastics) rather than metal. Obviously there may be parts of the craft which require metal in their design, in which case, make sure these are attached to some kind of flotation device. Wherever possible, use tube and box-section materials rather than solid. This will help with the recovery of the craft – and also means you don’t run the risk of being dragged to the bottom of the sea on landing.
2. Only Human Power is permitted –
no motors, rockets, battery power or sneaky elastic bands.
3. Your entry must be entirely
designed and constructed by the Team; you cannot adapt or amend light aircraft or hang-gliders.
4. Your design must be no longer that
8 metres from wingtip to wingtip (assuming it has such things as wings), and no longer than 8 metres from nose to tail (assuming it has these too).
5. Your aircraft needs to get up the
ramp and be recovered from the sea, so make it as light as possible – and preferably use materials which don’t become waterlogged (like heavy fabrics). This also applies to your costumes.
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Building Guidelines 6. Restrictions on materials includes
polystyrene, hydrocarbon based products (oil, fuel, grease, oil based paint, paraffin), paints containing lead or mercury, and paper based products such as paper mache.
7. When you are designing and
building, consider what is likely to happen when it hits the water. Make sure there are no hard or sharp surfaces around the cockpit which may cause injury. Round off those corners and make sure no nails, screws or other sharp fixings project near handholds or the Pilot. At junctions where big pieces join, try to ensure nothing can break in a way which is going to leave dangerous edges or fragments. Rotating blades or propellers add to the fun, but make sure no-one ends up getting minced.
8. All the aircrafts will be recovered
from the sea by the Organisers and compacted in a skip on site. No parts can be returned to participants. Your flying machine should be no higher than 3 metres.
source: redbull.co.za
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The Red Bull Flugtag was last staged in South Africa in 2002, and there have been over 200 versions of the event worldwide since the first in Vienna, Austria in 1992. For more information on the event, visit www.redbullflugtag.co.za
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