The residents of Kiev, Ukraine were treated to a healthy dose of ridiculosity Saturday as it played host for the first time to one of Red Bull’s infamous flugtag events in which teams build gloriously hilarious flying machines and then launch them off a ramp into a river to see which one flies the furthest, if at all.
(Top Photo: The Off We Go team compete during the Red Bull Flugtag 2010 in Kiev, June 19, 2010.)
The world’s number-one energy drink company has been sponsoring these flugtag (German for flight day or airshow) events since their inaugural 1991 flugtag in Vienna, Austria. The popularity of the Austrian event spawned other competitions in other locations all over the globe, with 35 cities and counting playing host over the last two decades.
This manta ray entry from the Yaytseplan team appears to have defied gravity, if just for a few seconds.
The guidelines for the event are that the “flying” machines must be made of environmentally friendly material, have a maximum wingspan of 30 feet and a maximum weight of 450 pounds. The craft must be powered by muscle, gravity or imagination and althought advertising is allowed, it is restricted to a one foot by one foot square.
The crafts are launched off of a ramp that is usually 30 ft. high into a large body of water, which in Kiev’s case was the Rusanivsky Canal. The teams are judged in three categories; distance, creativity, and showmanship. The winner of the Kiev event will join the Red Bull Air Race in Lisbon, Portugal, the first runner-up will go on display at the aviation museum Angar-7 in Saltsburg, Austria. The second runner-up team wins a parachute jump.
Here are more highlights from the event:
The entries didn’t get any “grater” than this cheesy airKraft from the Cool Borsch team.
The Ghostbusters mobile from the Classmates team made an ever-so-brief appearance before losing its battle with the Stay Aloft Marshmallow Man.
The Caries! team was the only one to enter a “chopper” in the event.
The Chumak Airlines team imitates Prince of Persia‘s run at the box office. Or perhaps it is commentary on the state of our once bullish world economy?
A beautiful tribute to the mysterious island from Lost by the Flying Sandals team.
The Penguins of Kiev Zoo team remind everyone that our tux-feathered friends from up north are of the flightless variety.
All Photos: REUTERS/Gleb Garanich
