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Flugtag, Human Powered Flying Machine Competition

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the does-falling-to-your-death-count dept.

Mike Lohse writes "Redbull is promoting its human-powered flying competition called Flugtag in San Francisco. Looks like creativity wins. The rules? Less than 30 feet wide, less than 450 lbs., only human power for propulsion. Applications are due August 20th, applicants are selected August 27th, and the competition is October 26th in San Francisco. Get sketching..."

1 of 104 comments (clear)

  1. Re:What do microlights weigh? Re:specifications... by Guppy06 · · Score: 3, Informative

    Gliders of any sort aren't flying, they're falling with class (to paraphrase Buzz Lightyear). Note that they generally have specifications that say how many inches down they fall per feet of forwawrd flight.

    As for ultralights, they only became possible with modern advances that maximized the hp-per-pound of modern Otto cycle engines.

    You can do human-powered flight (somebody used it to fly over the English Channel in the 80's, but I'm too lazy to Google it), but it's going to be... interesting with such a small wingspan.