Red Bull Flugtag lands in Long Beach for a world record
Tens of thousands turned out Saturday in Long Beach for the creative and slightly wacky Red Bull Flugtag competition, in which teams attempt to fly man-made machines off a 30-foot dock.
In many cases, they almost immediately plummeted to the water.
Though the event is certainly made for fun, the production of each Flugtag isn’t taken lightly.
Teams of up to five people work for weeks, even months, perfecting their flying machine. Each machine must be homemade, human-powered, less than 28-feet wide and weigh no more than 400 pounds, including the pilot.
In all, there were 28 teams in Long Beach.
Each craft and its passengers were judged on their creativity, showmanship and distance flown.
The other cities included in the national competition, Miami, Washington, D.C., Chicago and Dallas, might have put on good shows, but it was Long Beach that took home perhaps the most cherished prize -- a world record for longest flying Flugtag.
The Chicken Whisperers team beat last year’s record-setting flight of 228 feet by flying 258 feet.
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