28th October 2012 marked another milestone in Singapore’s tourism calendar as the the madcap wackiness of 1st ever Red Bull Flugtag Singapore finally crashed into the shores of Siloso Beach Sentosa! For people who are wondering what the fuss is all about, here is a small introduction.
Red Bull Flugtag (pronounced as Floog Tug – which means “Flying Day” in German) pushes the envelope of human-powered flight and challenges the brave and brainy to design, build and pilot home-made, wacky flying machines off a 6 metre high flight deck in hopes of soaring into the wild blue yonder–more often that not, plunging into the lagoon below instead. Teams of 4 are judged not only by flight distance, but also showmanship (explaining the dance performance of teams before their flights) as well as creativity of the aircraft (resulting in this year’s flying durian and prawns).
Since the first Red Bull Flugtag took place in Vienna, Austria, in 1992, more than 100 Flugtags have been held around the globe, attracting up to 300,000 spectators for a single event. This is its debut run in South-east Asia making Singapore a part of the 20-year history.
Red Bull Flugtag teams spent weeks toiling over their man-made aircrafts in an attempt to put Singapore on the world map for creativity. A total of 38 teams attempted, amidst cheers from a 35,000 strong crowd braving the scorching heat, to witness the aeronautical prowess and mayhem of the teams battling it out to break the 69.79m record set in Mainz, Germany earlier this year.
After a 30-second pre-take off performance, each team’s homemade flying craft manned by an intrepid pilot was launched off the deck into the open waters. Not only did the teams have to impress the judges and rouse the crowd in their 3-minute flight to fame, they also had to navigate natural obstacles like headwind. Wind became such a heady issue that the last 12 teams had to take on the course without a pilot due to safety matters.
Since the first Red Bull Flugtag took place in Vienna, Austria, in 1992, more than 100 Flugtags have been held around the globe, attracting up to 300,000 spectators for a single event. This is its debut run in South-east Asia making Singapore a part of the 20-year history.
Windy or not, most teams hammed it up for the cameras with their off-kilter flying contraptions which included a smattering of home-grown inspired flights of fancy such as ERP gantries, MRT cabins, Durians, Chili Crabs, Kueh Lapis and Char Siew Paus also took the skies, albeit briefly, before making a huge splash in the water below. There was even a Batmobile and a giant Anvil, though I was not sure how the latter could take to the skies.
A judging panel made up of 7 notable public figures (Paul Foster, Georgina Chang, Aide Iskandar, Rosalyn Lee, Felix Huang, Bobby Tonelli and Dee Kosh) dished out scores that suspiciously seemed like 4-D tips, a local flavor which was not missed by a couple of curious on-looking seniors who took down the numerical sequences.
While talking with one of the teams which dubbed itself, Kings of Fruit and had put together a craft that resembled a half-durian with wings, Mr. Nigel Zee mentioned that they had approached Nippon Paints for sponsorship and it has agreed to pay 2500SGD to a local charity for every 1000 likes on the team’s Facebook page. A quick check the next day showed that the page had garnered 951 “likes”.
But while others barely made it off the platform, Team Amphibious Dragonfly Drone took the prize for furthest flight, (clocking in a distance of 18.2 meters to nick the prize of driving a Mini for 18 days). Team Wheeee…Whooshima had styled their craft around the Marina Bay Sands integrated resort and team members sported costumes based on local icons, such as the Merlion and the Singapore Flyer.
The event even attracted many people from the aviation industry. Temasek and Singapore Polytechnic each fielded a team of aerospace students. Team members of the Super Sevens were formerly from the aviation industry. Three of them served as commercial pilots, while their craft’s pilot Ms Cordelia Low, 24, was an air stewardess for two years. The Super Sevens swept the grand prize, with their glider landing with barely a splash. The team bagged a trip to Red Bull’s Hangar-7 in Austria, with Ms Low winning the chance to skydive as well.
The second prize was awarded to ‘Team Riff Raff Rubber Ruckus’ (a serious rubber ducky theme going on here…) winning flights to any destination in Europe for every member of the team and the third to MRT cabin inspired ‘Team Flurry Express’ who won a tandem skydive experience outside of Singapore skies.
Team Wheeee…Whooshima had styled their craft around the Marina Bay Sands integrated resort and team members sported costumes based on local icons, such as the Merlion and the Singapore Flyer.
In the much coveted Wackiest Team Performance category, ‘Team Serial Flyers’ with their samba performance and intricate costumes including feather head dresses and a clattering Cereal Prawn craft were triumphant after stiff competition from the likes of hot crowd favourite ‘Team ERP’ (boy, don’t we like a little anti-establishment gesture) and the Power Ranger spectacle created by the youths in ‘Team Mega Aero Zoid’, winning a bungee jumping experience for each team member.
The day’s prize winners were announced by Red Bull Flugtag hosts, 98.7 FM’s Justin Ang and Vernon A. a.k.a The Muttons and each winning team was presented with their prizes atop the ramp. We just cannot wait for the next edition of this ridiculously entertaining event and hopefully there will not be any more crustacean designed crafts, corny quips and chubby middle-aged folks pulling off Gangnam style moves next year.