- 7 hours ago
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00Louisville, USA. Sitting on the banks of the mighty Ohio River, this is the largest city
00:06in Kentucky and the gateway to the south.
00:10Today, for the first time in its history, the city plays host to an event like no other,
00:15as 40 teams of friends, family and work buddies duke it out in an aerial dogfight of epic
00:21proportions. All will pilot homemade flying machines off this colossal runway in the quest
00:27for human powered flight, but only one will walk away as champion. Who shall emerge as
00:33the pride of Kentucky? And who will end up as the laughing stock of the state? This is
00:39Red Bull Flugtag.
00:57Hello and welcome to Louisville, a city famed for its bourbon whiskey, the Kentucky Derby
01:05horse race and, of course, the late great Muhammad Ali. And in the spirit of the people's champ,
01:10today, teams from across the USA will be hoping to float like a butterfly rather than sink like
01:15a stone as they compete in the world's greatest air show, Red Bull Flugtag. Now, in just a few
01:20moments time, the first of our teams are going to be throwing themselves off this six metre platform,
01:24into the Ohio River in front of tens of thousands of fans. And I've got to say,
01:30the air is thick with anticipation amongst both the competitors and the spectators. It's also thick
01:36with humidity because it is absolutely cooking out here. Vic, you've been hanging out with the teams
01:42though. Is there a sense of optimism amongst them? Let me tell you. Okay, so there's about half a mile
01:47of river between us right here and the opposite bank over there, at which point, Kentucky actually
01:52becomes Indiana. And I've met more than a couple of very cocky characters who genuinely believe that
01:58they've built crafts that are going to be able to cross that border. Don't rule it out. Anything can
02:02and usually does happen at Flugtag. Now, if you're new to all of this, here's a quick guide to the rules
02:08and history of this incredible event. In a day and age when technology has made mankind the master of the
02:15sky. It's fair to say we've lost a certain je ne sais quoi when it comes to the experimentation and
02:23flamboyance of aviation's earliest pioneers. But one event seeks to turn back the clock and inject the
02:30fun back into the fundamental principles of flight. Red Bull Flugtag. German for flying day. Flugtag challenges
02:39artists and engineers alike as teams of friends, family and colleagues try to create a homemade
02:46flying machine that not only looks great but flies too. Since its first event in 1992, Flugtag has gone
02:53on to be watched by millions around the world from California to Cape Town, Miami to Moscow. Fun might be
03:01the order of the day but this is most definitely a competition. And to decide a winner, a panel of judges
03:07scores each team on three categories including design of the craft, a 30 second pre-flight performance
03:15and last but not least, the total distance flown. And despite what you're thinking, some of these
03:21machines can and do fly. Exhibit A, the current world flight record of a colossal 78 meters set in 2013
03:32in Long Beach California. At the end of the day, the team with the most points combined with the total
03:38distance flown will be crowned today's Red Bull Flugtag champion. Having absorbed all of that information,
03:45you can now consider yourself a bonafide Flugtag expert. Right, let's get straight to the flight deck
03:51FRAFIS team. And our first team today are Millennial Falcons who are preparing with their performance
03:58on the launch ramp over the Ohio River which is about a thousand miles long. It's from Pennsylvania
04:04to Illinois. And we reckon today that if you can travel about 20 meters of the thousand miles,
04:10you'll win. So that's about as simple as it's going to be today. Good conditions here. A bit of a headwind
04:16is always good but nothing too strong. And off go Millennial Falcons with Becca as the pilot. Off they go!
04:22Oh, not too bad at all. And she gets the comfortable landing because of the design. The wings
04:29on the bottom as opposed to on the top. And 14.6 meters, I think that's going to be a decent target
04:34today. Four Millennial Falcons, big smile on her face. That's a good start to the competition.
04:40Gliding along, a little bit of air underneath that very, very wide craft and a decent landing as well.
04:47Always in control from start to finish. And everything went pretty well there, didn't it?
04:54For our first team here today. 37 out of 50 for the performance.
04:59The force was strong with you today. I liked it. It was very strong with us today.
05:0548 feet was a little better than we were thinking. Not bad at all. Well, your pilot was very impressive.
05:10She went down with her ship and she just carried on sailing down the Ohio with her craft.
05:13You should be so proud of her. Oh yeah. Couldn't be more proud.
05:17Hi, I'm with Kentucky Flying Colonels. My name is Zach. I'm the pilot and the captain.
05:22On my team, we've got Aaron, Ryan, Jake, and Justin, and they're the pushers.
05:28I've been a licensed pilot for almost 15 years. I've always had awesome flights. Nothing's ever gone
05:34wrong. I don't expect this one to go either. It's a swept wing design to focus on stability. And the air
05:39foils that we use to focus on low speed, high lift style air foils, ultimately it's going to look
05:44like a giant flying rubber chicken. I'm not nervous at all. If it was me and I was another team member
05:50from a different team, I'd be nervous.
05:56Let's hope this chicken certainly does fly. Kentucky Flying Colonels, lots and lots of engineering
06:01experience among this team. They say there's a combined 68 years between them, so no excuses
06:08to have not built a plane that can fly effectively over the Ohio River today. Not too imaginative,
06:15is it, the performance? Expect to see Don McClain in there somewhere.
06:20There he is. Look, Colonel Sanders. Looks a bit younger than when we last saw him, but
06:26let's not worry too much about that. Great crowd here today. You can see them in the background,
06:29and lovely conditions as well. It's very, very hot. So let's have a look what this team does.
06:34Down we go. Oh, blimey. Went head first there, didn't he? What, beak first, I suppose, this one.
06:4012.8. A little bit below what we saw first time round. And down they all go.
06:45He's happy enough. Just started to go down there, look, and then it starts to flip. And when that
06:54happens, you've got no chance to really get it going forward again. And the flight was essentially
06:59over the moment. It starts to nose dive like that. 33 out of 50 for the performance as well.
07:06Kentucky Flying Colonel, how did it feel hitting that water? It felt tremendous.
07:11Did it feel finger licking good? As my colleague had said, perhaps not this river.
07:18Back to you, Darren Fletcher. Thank you very much. The next team is called the Cardinals from Louisville,
07:25the Louisville Cardinals. It's a local university American football team, hence why we've got that
07:31for the performance on the ramp. And we've got the red as well, which is the colours that they play in.
07:36There we go. And there is the pilot, Brittany. And there's the launch vehicle at the bottom.
07:46Oh, it hasn't come off. It's not come off. She's gone down with the wheels attached.
07:51That's a massive disadvantage. These things are hard enough to fly when the wheels release.
07:54You've got no chance whatsoever. Well, they call Muhammad Ali the Louisville lip.
07:58She nearly did the Louisville flip, didn't she? As the top tried to go over the wheels.
08:03There we go. It never comes off and down. I mean, 5.4 metres is probably better than it should have been.
08:09It just never releases. Look, never releases. She went in hard as well.
08:19Good to see that everybody's OK. They won't be very happy with the distance and 26 for the performance.
08:26Hello. My name is Adam Horton and I represent Team Kentucky Power.
08:32Our craft is in two pieces. You'll see the bottoms separate. Everything is built out of aluminum,
08:40so it's really light. It's going to go fast. You're going to see the wheels hit the water.
08:45The plane's going to pass over it. Hopefully a smooth landing. I think we can win. Based off of the design,
08:53show up there on the stage. Hopefully get, you know, 100 feet or so.
08:58What's important is balance, speed, and being all in.
09:04I think he's right on all three of those. And it looks the part. He's a bit of a local celebrity,
09:10this guy, local artist. And he's crouching on the top there, hoping for the right takeoff.
09:16And he gets the right takeoff. And it's going still. And it's good. And he got the release off
09:21the wings at the end. And he'll be happy with that. Let's have a look at the distance. 19.2.
09:26Well, he talked about 100 feet. He got 63 feet. But I think today he'll be very satisfied with that.
09:33He's looking to get off. Look, waiting to go. Good balance, actually, from Adam Horton there. And the
09:39the discount at the end, which won't get him any more points. But it was a good flight by Kentucky
09:44Power. And that pre-flight confidence that we saw from him was not misguided, was it?
09:52There he is celebrating. And there's the performance score. Out of 50, remember, 38 for Kentucky Power.
09:58Well, the next craft is the Dukes of Hazardous. There's Uncle Jesse. I think Daisy Dukes seen better days.
10:12And they've had to work hard, this team, because they actually crashed their craft in static testing
10:24a couple of days ago. So they've had to rebuild it and get it ready for today,
10:27which has not been easy for them. There's the general lead towards the end of the ramp.
10:31And it's off and it's going. Oh, it's really good as well, isn't it? It's really good.
10:35Just when it looked as though it was going to plunge down into the Ohio River, it went again 24 meters,
10:42which is 81 feet, which is the best we've seen so far today. And the Dukes of Hazardous
10:49with a really impressive flight. And well done to them. They've rebuilt the craft, as I mentioned,
10:54and they've got it to fly so efficiently here in Louisville today. Looks like the flight's going to
10:59end there. And then it just gets that little extra push again, look, towards the end,
11:03which eat out a few more meters. And very, very smooth, very, very controlled.
11:13The look on his face told you that he was a little bit nervous as he left the ramp,
11:16but he pulled it together. And Dave, the pilot there, did a great job. And 40 out of 50
11:21for the performance as well. Really well done. You are, of course, the Dukes of Hazardous.
11:26There was nothing hazardous about that. That was smooth. How did it feel? I have no idea.
11:33It looked fantastic. Fun fact, Louisville once produced 90% of the USA's disco balls. Well,
11:41today it can claim to have produced 100% of the USA's giant flying frogs. It's time for a break now,
11:47but when we come back, our winged warriors will be waging open war on gravity here at Red Bull Flug
11:53Tag in Louisville. Don't go anywhere.
12:06Welcome back to Louisville, Kentucky, also known as the Fall City because of its proximity to the
12:11Ohio State Falls. About a mile in that direction. Today, though, the Fall City becomes the Fly City
12:18in honour of Red Bull Flug Tag. The next team are almost ready up on the flight deck,
12:22so let's get straight back into the action.
12:25Well, the next team are called the Louisville Fluggers. The baseball bats that tends to be used
12:31in the Major League are Louisville Sluggers. So there we can see the design for the performance
12:37is based around a baseball bat with wings. And we'll see whether this particular baseball bat with
12:44wings can fly well into the Ohio River. We've just seen the 81-footer from the Dukes of hazardous.
12:50Here go the Louisville Fluggers. Nowhere near as smooth as that. Up and down, swinging all over the
12:55place. Nothing like the smoothness that we saw before. And they get 12.8 metres, which is just about
13:02par for the course, but was never going to threaten the previous team. And he's never really in control.
13:07Look, as soon as the legs fly out to the front, he's all over the place. You've got to be stiller
13:11than that on the way down, and it just drops. Good release off the ramp, and then it starts to go
13:18wrong from there as his legs fly up towards the front of it. Now, let's have a look at the performance.
13:2432. I don't think that's going to trouble the leaderboard too much today. Now, the next team is
13:30a bizarre group of people called Nooper, and basically they spotted somebody who couldn't
13:36go to the toilet with their clothes on. So they've designed a plane here that's based on a toilet
13:42roll. It's all something that we don't really want to go into too much, but I'll kind of leave it to
13:46your own imagination. But let's see whether Lou Rolls can fly. It looks quite flimsy, I think,
13:51don't you? Look at the wings there. I'm not necessarily sure that they're going to be too strong.
13:56John is the pilot. There is John, and it doesn't look like he's got an awful lot above his head.
14:02He's got a lot below though. The toilet roll is the launch vehicle. Now off he goes,
14:06and he's gone down, and he's got what he got there. 13.7 metres.
14:16Off go the rest of the team. There's John. There's the release. It just starts to bend. Look,
14:25you see, it's far too flimsy. They've got to keep the wings out straight to get any kind of air
14:29underneath them. The minute the wings start to fold like that, you are going one way. And Nupar's
14:35performance score is 35. Team Nupar, this is very, very cosy. I'm just going to try and keep my eyes
14:41up to be wearing choice outfits. But what a flight. It was going so well until those wings just sort of
14:47capitulated up and broke. What happened? Yeah, we built it out of aluminum. We thought it would be
14:52strong enough. Next time, I think we're going to reinforce it a little bit more. One, two, three.
14:59If you're going to build a rock-themed flying machine, there are four things you need on your
15:03checklist. First up, Metallica power stance. Check. A kiss tongue. Check. An Eddie Van Halen machine gun.
15:10Check. And a David Lee Roth action jump. Yes. Plus, you need a pilot with no shortage of fishnet.
15:17Hannah, can this thing fly? Yes, it can. Okay, let's find out how AV8 got here.
15:23Hi. Don't hate. I'm from AV8. I can't do that. That's too terrible.
15:29I'm from Team AV8. I'm Jason, the captain. We have our three pushers, Chris, Justin, and Andy.
15:38We have the pilot, Hannah, who's actually also my wife.
15:42Jason would probably like to see me fall flat in the water because I have a life insurance policy.
15:47The goal is for this to not go well so I can retire.
15:57Our pusher launch cart is a giant guitar on wheels and then our flight craft is a keyboard.
16:03The biggest challenge about the build has been trying to understand aeronautical engineering,
16:09which is a minimum of a four-year degree in a couple of weeks.
16:13We've actually done a pretty good job of coming upon decisions that need to be made and being democratic.
16:18And by being democratic, I mean I say this is what we're going to do.
16:22And they either agree or I ask them to leave.
16:23Well, it looks like these guys are going to enjoy themselves here today.
16:28AV8. Hannah is the pilot, as she told you in the video there, that she's done it because she's got a life insurance policy.
16:34Let's hope she doesn't need it here in Louisville today.
16:40She's really rocking that electric guitar there as well, isn't she?
16:42Anyway, you've got to get on board now, Hannah. Off you go.
16:49All the best.
16:50She can hear her saying there, it's not straight.
16:55And off they go and it flies okay though, doesn't it?
16:58And she was hanging on to that for all she could.
17:00The little legs were going below to try and get a bit of extra distance.
17:0316.4. She was nervous at the top.
17:06She didn't think it was going to go straight, but it went quite a long way.
17:09It's a good flight. She's tried everything she can.
17:11Watch the legs go now. That's to try to get a few more meters long.
17:14You can't run in the air, Hannah, but she tried her best.
17:17And the AV-8 going to the Ohio River after a decent flight there.
17:2254 feet.
17:25And that's not bad. And 38 out of 50 for the performance as well.
17:29Jason, are you gutted? You won't be able to cash in on that life insurance policy.
17:34I can't begin to tell you how gutted I am. Absolutely not.
17:40I love this one.
17:43It's all love. It's all love. Can I hear it? Especially for Hannah and all of Team AV-8. Yes.
17:50And can I have a bit of a head bang?
17:51Yeah.
17:52That is exactly how I wanted to go out. Darren Fletcher, who have we got next?
17:57Thank you very much indeed, because we've got the Vinyl Frontier. That's supposed to be a big record, a vinyl disc.
18:04If you know what they are, great. If you don't, ask your mum and dad.
18:08They're hoping to make sweet music here in Louisville. No needle with this team at all.
18:13Can they hit the right note here over the Ohio River? That's enough of that. Enough of that.
18:18I'm getting carried away. Let's see what the Vinyl Frontier can do.
18:22It's certainly a strange looking craft. Will it fly? We're about to fight. Oh, they've all gone at the same time.
18:28And it's over.
18:31Didn't get very far, did it? It's just a big round circle. It looks nothing like a plane.
18:3610 metres.
18:41They managed to release in time and then the pilots really just dragged it down.
18:49Let's have a look at the performance score in a minute, because they might need that.
18:53Splash.
18:56Well, 31. 31 out of 50. Not good.
19:00Hey, I'm from Team Mad Max. My name's Jeremiah. I'm the captain and the pilot.
19:05On my team, we have four pushers. We have Ryan, Danny, Greg and Nicky.
19:10We've definitely put a pretty large commitment into this. Besides the man hours, I've lost weight.
19:17You know, I can take weight off much easier than we can take weight off the plane. And I've lost about two stone
19:23in three months for this. And actually, I'm having to gain weight to fly this thing. I lost too much weight.
19:29So they're definitely going to have to bring an A game. You know, if we put a lot, a lot of effort into this,
19:35and they're going to have to just be really, really good or put in more effort than us.
19:40People are going to look at our craft and they're going to go,
19:42So we've got some competition, so.
19:45Well, they're certainly talking a good game, aren't they? Mad Max.
19:51There's the performance.
20:03It's all a bit sinister, this one, don't you think?
20:06Got a flying record last time. Now we've got a group that you don't really want to bump into
20:10on a dark night. Let's see what they do.
20:14Jeremiah is the pilot. He's got his game face on.
20:18Off we go towards the end of the ramp and there's the release and it's looking good.
20:22It's looking really good. It was a really good flight.
20:26Well, they might have looked like a group not to mess with, but they got 22 meters from their plane.
20:32And it flew well.
20:35And we tend to see that, don't we? The smoother the flight, the further it goes. And look at that one.
20:41It's on a nice trajectory all the way down.
20:4875 feet, if you want it, in old money. And then we see the craft break.
20:54Don't quite know what he's reaching for there, whether he's just hanging on or not.
20:59But it was a good flight, that from Mad Max. They'll take some beating today,
21:03especially with that performance score of 45.
21:07Huge scores. You must be happy with that.
21:09Yeah, we're happy with that.
21:10Well, that's one part of it that might get us to the winner's podium.
21:12Because it's about so much more than just the flight. It is the performance. It is the ingenuity of the craft.
21:18But you do seem a bit disappointed.
21:20Oh, of course. Yeah. I mean, we were one of the beta records. So, you know, wins just wasn't cooperating.
21:24All right. Well, I'll go and let you take your makeup off because it's miraculously stayed intact
21:28despite jumping into the Ohio. And right back to you on the flight deck.
21:32OK. For When Blowfish Fly. It's an all-girls team. They all work together.
21:40And the company they work for is called Blowfish, hence why they've called their team that today.
21:45It's an under-the-sea theme. They want to be on top of the water for as long as they possibly can,
21:50which means they've had a decent flight. Probably the most glamorous team we've had today.
21:56And a nice refreshing sight after the grizzled Mad Max team that we saw before this one.
22:01So, let's have a look at this when Blowfish fly.
22:06Is that going to fly?
22:12It doesn't look like a plane. It just looks like a round ball, but we'll just see what it does.
22:18Looks like a brain, actually, doesn't it? Here we go, then, towards the round ball!
22:22Straight off the front. Yeah, it didn't fly, did it?
22:25He ejected ahead of time. That was just like, you're getting on it.
22:298.2 metres.
22:34Off they go. It didn't work.
22:36I can see the idea. Well, I can't really. I can't see the idea. I don't know why I'm saying that.
22:40It's just a round ball. How are you supposed to get a round ball to fly?
22:45She's straight off. Look, face first.
22:49Well, they've enjoyed it. Look, it's all in the spirit of the day. It's been a fantastic competition
22:53again here in Louisville. 24 out of 50. Thanks for coming.
22:58So, we're in the home of Muhammad Ali. So, Ed, tell us, who is the greatest today?
23:03Third place goes to the local favourites, Kentucky Power. In second place, it's Daisy's Posse and the
23:10Dukes of Hazardous, who, despite having the longest flight of the day, were pipped on the overall score
23:16by today's masters of the Ohio River, the magnificent, if slightly intimidating, Mad Max.
23:26How are you feeling?
23:27Pumped. Excited. We won.
23:30Were you expecting to win?
23:31Yeah, I think we were.
23:34Just confidence. Just paid off. I know you put a lot of hard work in over quite a long time,
23:39and it's really shown.
23:41I'm glad it did. We probably got 1,500 man hours working on it every night, after work,
23:46late into the night. You know, this was the payoff, so we're excited, we're all happy, and we had fun.
23:51Yes. The champions of Red Bull Flugtag, Louisville, Mad Max.
24:01And with those crazy looking men with their white painted heads, we draw to a close,
24:17an incredible day of Flugtag action here in Louisville, Kentucky. What was your highlight, Vic?
24:22Oh, it's hard, Ed, but it's got to be Team AV8. You know I love music, and to have that as part of your
24:28craft was brilliant. And if you're going to fly, fly while headbanging. Furthermore, they had those
24:33winglets, those dihedral foils, which really helped its flight. And the fact that Hannah was the pilot,
24:39by default, I just salute her. What about you?
24:42Dukes of Hazardous, undoubtedly. It shows my age with that nostalgia, but watching Daisy Duke with
24:49a hairy cleavage and stomach sitting on a swing, I thought they were going to get quite a rough ride,
24:53but they just, they were so graceful as they glided down into the water.
24:57It wasn't hazardous at all, it was smooth.
24:59It was very smooth. And with that, all that's left to say is thank you for watching.
25:03See you next time.
25:09See you next time.
25:39See you next time.
Be the first to comment