Flugtag 2006

Sparky!

On Saturday some friends and I went to Tempe Town Lake for the Red Bull 2006 Flugtag. Flugtag is German and stands for “Flying Day”. What IS Flugtag you ask? I would call it more of a “Gliding Day” than a “Flying Day”, or maybe more of a “Falling Day”, since most of the entrants had the glide characteristics of a rock, but here is what happens. Groups of entrants make human powered gliders in various shapes and sizes, preferrably in funky shapes and sizes. Many appear to be more concerned about appearance rather than function, hence most of the “gliders” really fall like a rock rather than glide, but it is all in good fun. Most have some sort of skit or act they perform before flingling themselves off the edge of the Flugtag “carrier” (really more like a ramp/platform). The fact that they have copious amounts of alcohol at the event makes it even more fun 🙂 There were supposedly 70,000+ folks at this Flugtag, which I think is a US record for Flugtags. Incidentally, there is a fun Flash game on the Flugtag website where you get to try to glide as far as possible. Our group record appears to be 109ft, by Srini. Photos are up on flickr.