CANADIAN TEAMS GET GREEN LIGHT FOR FLIGHT AT RED BULL FLUGTAG OTTAWA-GATINEAU
-- 30 teams from across Canada granted their boarding passes and will prepare for take off on July 27, 2013 --
TORONTO, ON – June 20, 2013 – It’s a bird, it’s a plane…no scratch that -- it’s a flying sock monkey, a winged frying pan and a magic carpet, oh my! On Saturday, July 27, zany human-powered flying machines from across Canada will once again dare to defy gravity as Red Bull Flugtag returns to our nation’s capital. After carefully reviewing extremely imaginative and innovative submissions from across the country, 30 teams officially received their boarding passes and are preparing for take-off for the ultimate flight experience. Red Bull Flugtag Ottawa-Gatineau challenges these brave and brainy flight teams to design, build, and pilot homemade flying machines off a 22-foot “flight deck” in hopes of soaring into the clouds…or more often, plunging into the Ottawa River below.
DRUMROLL PLEASE…
So just who made the final cut? A schmorgasboard of the most inspired, original and daring entries from coast to coast, of course! These top 30 teams will do their best to convince the Canada that everything from a beanie to a beaver can take flight with engineering, design and a whole lot of creativity!
It may not be a food fight, but you’ll definitely see food take to the air with Ottawa’s ‘Flying Fried’, a flying frying pan whose team is not only a veteran of the 2008 event, but who are also extremely dedicated to seeing breakfast fly! Serious aviation aficionados will also attempt to take the Flugtag challenge, as ‘Airborne Ace’ (Ottawa, ON), a space-age design from a group of savvy Algonquin college aerospace engineers aims go the distance.
Pop-culture is definitely on deck this year as ‘ET’s Float Home’ (Toronto, ON) brings the extraterrestrial nostalgia, ‘Henry the Flying Yoshi’ (Quebec, QC) pays homage to the classic video game character, and ‘The Eh Team’ (La Salle, ON) brings the muscle, Canadian style (Mr. T not included). Other entries that were never meant to get airborne, will now have their chance! All the way from Winnipeg, team ‘Flying Beanie’ will literally be throwing their hat in the competition, and ‘This is Bananas’ (Ottawa, ON), will grant a giant banana wings and will it to fly.
From silly to serious to everything in-between, what unites all of the teams is a passion for doing things a little differently and a daring to fly! To see the full list of all 30 final teams competing at Red Bull Flugtag, head over to RedBullFlugtag.ca.
THE SKY’S THE LIMIT
If your German is a bit rusty, Flugtag means “flying day”, but don’t expect to see anything resembling a traditional planes take flight. Instead, ingenious human-powered crafts certain to electrify crowds will launch into the Ottawa-Gatineau skies. The daredevil visionaries who concocted the imaginative crafts are given the chance to stand on a 22-foot flight deck built at the Canadian Museum of Civilization with nothing but the Ottawa River between them and a triumphant flight to the shore of the Parliament Buildings.
Since its debut in Vienna, Austria in 1992, there have been more than 100 Red Bull Flugtag events held around the globe from Ireland to Israel, and this year will be the second time Canada will is set to host the event in our nation’s capital. A panel of celebrity judges will take three criteria into account in deciding who makes the podium: distance flown, creativity of the craft, and the team’s showmanship on stage. Each team will have 30 seconds to perform an original skit to win over the crowd and impress the judges, before pushing, dragging, and ultimately launching their homemade crafts off the flight deck into the Ottawa River below.
FLIGHT PROTOCOL
Although we'd all love to fly by the seat of our pants, there are rules and regulations each team must respect, besides gravity, of course. Rule #1: All flying machines must be entirely human-powered! That means no external energy sources or stored power of any kind. Rule #2: All crafts must be less than 20 feet in length, 28 feet in wingspan, and 10 feet high. Rule #3: All crafts must weigh no more than 200 kilos (400 lbs), including the pilot.
Teams will be competing for a bevy of amazing prizes. First place wins a cash purse of $7,500. Second place wins $3,000 and third place wins $1,500. There are also a special prizes awarded for the People’s Choice, as the public is invited to vote during the event for their favourite team.
Red Bull Flugtag Ottawa-Gatineau is free to the public. Gates open at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, July 27, with first flight departing at 12:00 p.m. For more information, including team bios, photos, video, or to play the Flight Lab online game, visit www.redbullflugtag.ca.
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For more information, please contact:
Rosie Shipton | Emily Palley-Samson
Edelman
416-849-1505 | 416-849-8944
Rosie.Shipton@Edelman.com | Emily.Palley-Samson@Edelman.com
For media in Montreal, please contact:
Catherine Pouliot
Edelman
514-844-6665 ext. 5886
About Red Bull Flugtag
Red Bull Flugtag is a competition that dares both the brave and the brainy to design, build, and pilot homemade flying machines in hopes of achieving human-powered flight. While distance is a major factor, the crafts are also judged on two other criteria – creativity and showmanship – by a panel of celebrity judges.
The first Red Bull Flugtag was held in Vienna in 1992. Since then, more than 100 Red Bull Flugtags have been held around the world, attracting over 300,000 spectators for a single event! Just this past year, the international flight distance record of 229 feet was set in Mainz, Germany.
Red Bull FLUGTAG Content: Free for Editorial Usage
Through the Red Bull network, hi-res video and still images are captured and made immediately available for editorial use for all media channels including television, film, print, mobile, and digital. The content is centrally located in the Red Bull Content Pool for media partners at www.redbullcontentpool.com. Search: Red Bull Flugtag
