Crazy Contraptions Take Flight

Have you ever seen a flying sausage?

What about a soaring banjo or a giant airborne roll of toilet paper? These wacky machines were all entries in past Red Bull Flugtag challenges. Red Bull’s Austrian founder created the event, which means “flying day” in German. The annual contest has teams build homemade, human-powered aircraft. Contestants then push their creations off an 8.5 meter (28 foot)-tall platform over a body of water. The goal is to see which will stay aloft the longest.

The lighthearted Flugtag competition takes place in different cities around the world. Most entries are more goofy than airworthy. They usually roll off the platform and nose-dive straight into the water. There’s a reason real-world aircraft aren’t shaped like flying ears of corn or pigs with wings: These shapes aren’t designed with aerodynamics in mind, meaning the properties that affect how air interacts with an object. It’s what allows a vehicle to launch into the sky—and stay there (see Physics of Flight).

But not all Flugtag entries are flops. Some contestants take the comical contest seriously. With physics on their side, these teams engineer creative contraptions that can really fly. 

Did you ever see a flying sausage? What about a soaring banjo? Or a giant roll of toilet paper in the air? These wacky machines were all entries in past Red Bull Flugtag challenges. Red Bull’s Austrian founder created the event. Flugtag means “flying day” in German. Teams build homemade, human-powered aircraft for the yearly contest. Then they push their creations off an 8.5 meter (28 foot)-tall platform over a body of water. The goal is to stay in the air the longest. 

Flugtag takes place in different cities around the world. It’s a lighthearted competition. Most entries are more goofy than airworthy. They usually roll off the platform and nose-dive straight into the water. Real-world aircraft aren’t shaped like flying ears of corn or pigs with wings. There’s a reason for that. These shapes aren’t designed with aerodynamics in mind. That means the properties that affect how air moves around an object. These properties allow a vehicle to launch into the sky—and stay there (see Physics of Flight). 

But not all Flugtag entries are flops. Some teams take the funny contest seriously. With physics on their side, they make creative contraptions that can really fly.

Emma Adkisson is an architect in Cincinnati, Ohio. She’s been watching Flugtag online with her parents and two daughters for years. “We would laugh our heads off,” she says. “But we would also pause the video to study the designs and think about how they could have been better.” When the family heard Flugtag would take place in Cincinnati last summer, they knew they had to enter. Adkisson had never built an aircraft before. But as an architect, she was used to designing structures that defy gravity—the force that pulls objects toward Earth.

Teams can build pretty much any type of contraption. There are only a few rules they have to follow. Each team needs five members: one pilot, who flies the craft, and a ground crew of four. The combined weight of the flying machine and pilot must total no more than 181 kilograms (400 pounds). The craft must float to make it easier to retrieve after it splashes down. And the team must use only their own muscle power to launch the craft off the platform. That means no motors, rockets, catapults, slingshots, or powered mechanical parts.

Adkisson’s family named themselves Team Emboss. For their entry, they created an aircraft shaped like a dragonfly—one of the most skilled fliers in the animal kingdom. The craft had four long wings and two disco ball eyes. The group hoped the huge wings would catch the air to help keep their craft airborne.

On the day of the contest, Team Emboss rolled their dragonfly down the runway, with Adkisson’s dad piloting. The ground crew ran as fast as they could to maximize thrust—the force that pushes an object forward. Then they let go and crossed their fingers that the weight of their flier’s extended tail wouldn’t cause the aircraft to flip backward. The dragonfly took off and flew 10 m (33 ft).

Emma Adkisson is an architect in Cincinnati, Ohio. She watched Flugtag online with her parents and two daughters for years. “We would laugh our heads off,” she says. “But we would also pause the video to study the designs and think about how they could have been better.” Then the family heard Flugtag was coming to Cincinnati last summer. They knew they had to enter. Adkisson had never built an aircraft. But as an architect, she designed structures that defy gravity. This force pulls objects toward Earth. 

Teams can build almost any type of contraption. They must follow only a few rules. Each team needs five members. One pilot flies the craft, and four people are the ground crew. Together, the flying machine and pilot must weigh no more than 181 kilograms (400 pounds). The craft must float. That makes it easier to retrieve after it splashes down. The team launches the craft off the platform. But they must use only their own muscle power. They can’t use motors, rockets, catapults, slingshots, or powered mechanical parts.

Adkisson’s family named themselves Team Emboss. For their entry, they created an aircraft shaped like a dragonfly. That’s one of the most skilled fliers in the animal kingdom. The craft had four long wings and two disco ball eyes. The group hoped the huge wings would catch the air. That would help their craft keep flying. 

The day of the contest came. Team Emboss rolled their dragonfly down the runway. Adkisson’s dad was the pilot. The ground crew ran as fast as they could to increase thrust. This force pushes an object forward. Then they let go and crossed their fingers. Their flier had a long tail. Would its weight cause the aircraft to flip backward? The dragonfly took off and flew 10 m (33 ft).

Flugtag entries function a lot like hang gliders. Pilots can control their aircraft’s speed, distance, and direction the same way hang glider pilots do: by shifting the position of their body. Paul Henkel’s team felt that this was the key to a successful flight when designing their Flugtag entry. Henkel competed as a member of a team called May We Help, which represented a nonprofit organization of the same name that designs devices to help people with disabilities.

Even the longest Flugtag flight lasts just a few moments. That includes the distance record set in 2013. That team flew 79 m (258 ft)—about the length of three basketball courts—but their craft was in the air for only about 10 seconds!

May We Help knew that once their craft launched, the pilot would have “only one chance to adjust the flight path, by moving his body weight in relation to the aircraft’s center of gravity,” explains Henkel. The pilot needed to shift his weight back, changing the point around which the aircraft’s weight was distributed. That way it would nudge upward instead of nose-diving.

Team May We Help designed a fairly traditional-looking aircraft with one long wing across its top. Like an airplane’s wings, this one was curved on top, tapering toward the back edge. This curve makes flight possible, says Henkel. Air moves faster over the curved top of the wing than it does underneath. This creates an area of lower pressure, or force pushing against a surface, above the wing and higher pressure below. That difference in pressure generates the upward force of lift that keeps the aircraft aloft.

Flugtag craft are designed for one-time use. That’s because they usually don’t survive the water landing. So May We Help didn’t know how their design would fare until it was pushed from the platform during the competition. The result: It soared 9 m (30 ft) before smashing spectacularly into the river!

Flugtag entries work a lot like hang gliders. Pilots can control their aircraft’s speed, distance, and direction the way hang glider pilots do. They shift the position of their body. Paul Henkel’s team felt that this was the key to a successful flight. So they designed their Flugtag entry with that in mind. Henkel’s team was named after a nonprofit organization called May We Help. The organization designs devices to help people with disabilities. 

Even the longest Flugtag flight lasts just a few moments. That includes the distance record. It was set in 2013, when a team flew 79 m (258 ft). They covered about the length of three basketball courts. But their craft was in the air for only about 10 seconds! 

After May We Help’s craft launched, its pilot would need to make a move. He would have “only one chance to adjust the flight path, by moving his body weight in relation to the aircraft’s center of gravity,” explains Henkel. The pilot needed to shift his weight back. Then the craft would nudge upward instead of nose-diving. 

Team May We Help designed a fairly traditional-looking aircraft. It had one long wing across its top. This one was curved on top, like an airplane’s wings. It got thinner toward the back edge. This curve makes flight possible, says Henkel. Air moves faster over the curved top of the wing than under it. This creates an area of lower pressure above the wing. That’s the force pushing against a surface. It also creates higher pressure below the wing. That difference in pressure produces the upward force of lift. This force keeps the craft in the air. 

Flugtag craft are designed for one-time use. That’s because they usually don’t survive the water landing. Would May We Help’s design work? They didn’t know, until they pushed it from the platform during the competition. It soared 9 m (30 ft)! Then it smashed impressively into the river.

Team Emboss and Team May We Help were among the dozens competing in Cincinnati last year. Each entry—including a giant flying skateboard, a fire truck, and a guitar—was ranked by a panel of judges. Their scores were based on how far each aircraft flew as well as the team’s artistic concept and showmanship.

During scoring, creativity and performance are just as important as the aircraft’s flying ability. Teams wear costumes and perform a launch routine to psych themselves up and get the crowd excited. The 2023 lineup included tiger outfits, pirate sword fights, and Minions running amok. When the competition was over, a winged purple dragon was awarded third place and a soaring eagle second. It’s no surprise that the vehicle that cruised into first place wasn’t one of the contest’s wackier designs. It was a biplane that flew a whopping 16 m (51 ft)!

Dozens of teams competed in Cincinnati last year, including Team Emboss and Team May We Help. Some other entries were a giant flying skateboard, a fire truck, and a guitar. A panel of judges gave each entry a score. They looked at how far each aircraft flew, plus the team’s artistic ideas and showmanship. 

The aircraft’s flying ability is part of the score. But creativity and performance are just as important. Teams wear costumes and perform a launch routine. This gets the teams and the crowd excited. In 2023, the routines included tiger outfits, pirate sword fights, and Minions running amok. When the competition was over, a winged purple dragon won third place. A soaring eagle took second. The first-place vehicle wasn’t one of the contest’s wackier designs. That’s no surprise. It was a biplane that flew a whopping 16 m (51 ft)!