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00:00River, this is the largest city in Kentucky and the gateway to the south.
00:05Today, for the first time in its history, the city plays host to an event like no other,
00:10as 40 teams of friends, family and work buddies duke it out in an aerial dogfight of epic proportions.
00:17All will pilot homemade flying machines off this colossal runway in the quest for human-powered flight.
00:24But only one will walk away as champion.
00:26Who shall emerge as the pride of Kentucky?
00:30And who will end up as the laughingstock of the state?
00:33This is Red Bull Flug Tag.
00:54Hello and welcome to Louisville, a city famed for its bourbon whiskey,
00:58the Kentucky Derby horse race and, of course, the late, great Muhammad Ali.
01:03And in the spirit of the people's champ, today, teams from across the USA will be hoping to float like a butterfly,
01:09rather than sink like a stone, as they compete in the world's greatest air show, Red Bull Flug Tag.
01:14Now, in just a few moments' time, the first of our teams are going to be throwing themselves off this six-metre platform
01:19into the Ohio River in front of tens of thousands of fans.
01:24And I've got to say, the air is thick with anticipation amongst both the competitors and the spectators.
01:30It's also thick with humidity because it is absolutely cooking out here.
01:35Vic, you've been hanging out with the teams, though.
01:37Is there a sense of optimism amongst them?
01:40Let me tell you.
01:40OK, so there's about half a mile of river between us right here and the opposite bank over there,
01:45at which point Kentucky actually becomes Indiana.
01:48And I've met more than a couple of very cocky characters
01:52who genuinely believe that they've built crafts that are going to be able to cross that border.
01:56Don't rule it out. Anything can and usually does happen at Flug Tag.
02:00Now, if you're new to all of this, here's a quick guide to the rules and history of this incredible event.
02:06In a day and age when technology has made mankind the master of the sky,
02:11it's fair to say we've lost a certain je ne sais quoi when it comes to the experimentation
02:16and flamboyance of aviation's earliest pioneers.
02:21But one event seeks to turn back the clock and inject the fun back into the fundamental principles of flight.
02:29Red Bull Flug Tag.
02:31German for flying day.
02:33Flug Tag challenges artists and engineers alike as teams of friends, family and colleagues
02:39try to create a homemade flying machine that not only looks great, but flies too.
02:45Since its first event in 1992, Flug Tag has gone on to be watched by millions around the world
02:51from California to Cape Town, Miami to Moscow.
02:55Fun might be the order of the day, but this is most definitely a competition.
03:00And to decide a winner, a panel of judges scores each team on three categories,
03:05including design of the craft, a 30-second pre-flight performance,
03:10and last but not least, the total distance flown.
03:14And despite what you're thinking, some of these machines can and do fly.
03:19Exhibit A, the current world flight record of a colossal 78 metres set in 2013 in Long Beach, California.
03:28At the end of the day, the team with the most points combined with the total distance flown
03:33will be crowned today's Red Bull Flug Tag champion.
03:39Having absorbed all of that information, you can now consider yourself a bona fide Flug Tag expert.
03:44Right, let's get straight to the flight deck for our first team.
03:47And our first team today are Millennial Falcons,
03:51who are preparing with their performance on the launch ramp over the Ohio River,
03:56which is about 1,000 miles long.
03:58It's from Pennsylvania to Illinois.
04:00And we reckon today that if you can travel about 20 metres of the 1,000 miles, you'll win.
04:07So that's about as simple as it's going to be today.
04:09Good conditions here.
04:11A bit of a headwind is always good, but nothing too strong.
04:13And off go Millennial Falcons with Becca as the pilot.
04:16Off they go!
04:18Ah, not too bad at all.
04:20And she gets the comfortable landing because of the design.
04:22The wings on the bottom as opposed to on the top.
04:26And 14.6 metres, I think that's going to be a decent target today.
04:30Four Millennial Falcons, big smile on her face.
04:32That's a good start to the competition.
04:35Gliding along, a little bit of air underneath that very, very wide craft.
04:41And a decent landing as well.
04:42We're always in control from start to finish.
04:46And everything went pretty well there, didn't it, for our first team here today.
04:5137 out of 50 for the performance.
04:54The force was strong with you today.
04:57Yes.
04:57I liked it.
04:58It was very strong with us today.
05:0048 feet was a little better than we were thinking.
05:02Not bad at all.
05:03Well, your pilot was very impressive.
05:05She went down with her ship and she just carried on sailing down the Ohio with her craft.
05:09You should be so proud of her.
05:10Oh, yeah.
05:10Couldn't be more proud.
05:12Hi, I'm with Kentucky Flying Colonels.
05:14My name is Zach.
05:15I'm the pilot and the captain.
05:17On my team, we've got Aaron, Ryan, Jake, and Justin, and they're the pushers.
05:23I've been a licensed pilot for almost 15 years.
05:26I've always had awesome flights.
05:28Nothing's ever gone wrong.
05:29I don't expect this one to go either.
05:30It's a swept wing design to focus on stability, and the airfoils that we use to focus on low-speed, high-lift-style airfoils.
05:39Ultimately, it's going to look like a giant flying rubber chicken.
05:41I'm not nervous at all.
05:43If it was me and I was another team member from a different team, I'd be nervous.
05:47Let's hope this chicken certainly does fly.
05:53Kentucky Flying Colonels.
05:55Lots and lots of engineering experience among this team.
05:59They say there's a combined 68 years between them, so no excuses to have not built a plane that can fly effectively over the Ohio River today.
06:09Not too imaginative, is it, the performance?
06:13Expect to see Don McLean in there somewhere.
06:17There he is.
06:17Look, Colonel Sanders.
06:18Looks a bit younger than when we last saw him, but let's not worry too much about that.
06:22Great crowd here today.
06:23You can see them in the background.
06:24In lovely conditions as well.
06:25It's very, very hot.
06:27So let's have a look what this team does.
06:29Down we go.
06:31Blimey.
06:32Went headfirst there, didn't he?
06:33What, beak first, I suppose, this one.
06:3512.8.
06:36A little bit below what we saw first time round.
06:39And down they all go.
06:42He's happy enough.
06:45Just started to go down there, look, and then it starts to flip, and when that happens, you've got no chance to really get it going forward again, and the flight was essentially over the moment.
06:55It starts to nosedive like that.
06:5933 out of 50 for the performance as well.
07:01Kentucky Flying Colonel, how did it feel hitting that water?
07:05It felt tremendous.
07:06Did it feel finger-licking good?
07:09As my colleague had said, perhaps not this river.
07:13Back to you, Darren Fletcher.
07:15Thank you very much.
07:16The next team is what's called the Cardinals.
07:19From Louisville, the Louisville Cardinals, the local university American football team, hence why we've got that for the performance on the ramp.
07:28And we've got the red as well, which is the colours that they play in.
07:32There we go.
07:35And there is the pilot, Brittany.
07:39And there's the launch vehicle at the bottom.
07:41Oh, it hasn't come off!
07:42It's not come off!
07:43She's gone down with the wheels attached.
07:45That's a massive disadvantage.
07:47These things are hard enough to fly when the wheels release.
07:50You've got no chance whatsoever.
07:51Well, they call Muhammad Ali the Louisville lip.
07:53She nearly did the Louisville flip, didn't she?
07:56As the top tried to go over the wheels.
07:58There we go.
07:58It never comes off and down.
08:00I mean, 5.4 metres is probably better than it should have been.
08:04It just never releases.
08:05Look, never releases.
08:07Whew, she went in hard as well.
08:14Good to see that everybody's okay.
08:17They won't be very happy with the distance and 26 for the performance.
08:22Hello, my name is Adam Horton and I represent Team Kentucky Power.
08:27Our craft is in two pieces.
08:31You'll see the bottoms separate.
08:33Everything is built out of aluminium, so it's really light.
08:36It's going to go fast.
08:38You're going to see the wheels hit the water.
08:41The plane's going to pass over it.
08:42Hopefully, a smooth landing.
08:44I think we can win.
08:46Based off of the design, show up there on the stage.
08:50Hopefully, get, you know, 100 feet or so.
08:53What's important is balance, speed, and being all in.
08:59I think he's right on all three of those.
09:02And it looks the part.
09:03He's a bit of a local celebrity, this guy, local artist.
09:07And he's crouching on the top there, hoping for the right takeoff.
09:11And he gets the right takeoff, and it's going still, and it's good.
09:15And he got the release off the wings at the end, and he'll be happy with that.
09:18Let's have a look at the distance.
09:19He's 19.2.
09:21Well, he talked about 100 feet.
09:23He got 63 feet.
09:25But I think today he'll be very satisfied with that.
09:28He's looking to get off.
09:29Look, waiting to go.
09:31Good balance, actually, from Adam Horton there.
09:34And the dismount at the end, which won't get him any more points.
09:37But it was a good flight by Kentucky Power.
09:40And that pre-flight confidence that we saw from him was not misguided, was it?
09:47There he is celebrating.
09:49And there's the performance score.
09:50Out of 50, remember, 38 for Kentucky Power.
09:53Well, the next craft is the Dukes of Hazardous.
10:03There's Uncle Jesse.
10:05I think Daisy Dukes seen better days.
10:13And they've had to work hard, this team, because they actually crashed their craft in static testing a couple of days ago.
10:20So they've had to rebuild it and get it ready for today, which has not been easy for them.
10:24There's the General Lee towards the end of the ramp.
10:26And it's off and it's going.
10:27Oh, it's really good as well, isn't it?
10:29It's really good.
10:31Just when it looked as though it was going to plunge down into the Ohio River, it went again.
10:3624 meters, which is 81 feet, which is the best we've seen so far today.
10:42And the Dukes of Hazardous with a really impressive flight.
10:46And well done to them.
10:47And they've rebuilt the craft, as I mentioned, and they've got it to fly so efficiently here in Louisville today.
10:53Looks like the flight's going to end there.
10:55And then it just gets that little extra push again, look, towards the end, which eked out a few more meters.
11:03And very, very smooth.
11:05Very, very controlled.
11:07The look on his face told you that he was a little bit nervous as he left the ramp, but he pulled it together.
11:14And Dave the Pilot there did a great job.
11:15And 40 out of 50 for the performance as well.
11:18Really well done.
11:19You are, of course, the Dukes of Hazardous.
11:21There was nothing hazardous about that.
11:22That was smooth.
11:24How did it feel?
11:25I have no idea.
11:28But it looked fantastic.
11:31Fun fact, Louisville once produced 90% of the USA's disco balls.
11:36Well, today it can claim to have produced 100% of the USA's giant flying frogs.
11:41It's time for a break now, but when we come back, our winged warriors will be waging open war on gravity here at Red Bull Flugtag in Louisville.
11:49Don't go anywhere.
11:55Welcome back to Louisville, Kentucky, also known as the Fall City, because of its proximity to the Ohio State Falls.
12:08About a mile in that direction.
12:10Today, though, the Fall City becomes the Fly City in honor of Red Bull Flugtag.
12:15The next team are almost ready up on the flight deck, so let's get straight back into the action.
12:20Well, the next team are called the Louisville Fluggers.
12:23The Fluggers, the baseball bats that tend to be used in the Major League are Louisville Sluggers.
12:29So there we can see the design for the performance is based around a baseball bat with wings.
12:37And we'll see whether this particular baseball bat with wings can fly well into the Ohio River.
12:42We've just seen the 81-footer from the Dukes of Hazardous.
12:45Here go the Louisville Fluggers.
12:47Nowhere near as smooth as that.
12:48Up and down, swinging all over the place.
12:50It's nothing like the smoothness that we saw before.
12:54And they get 12.8 meters, which is just about par for the course, but was never going to threaten the previous team.
13:01And he's never really in control.
13:02As soon as the legs fly out of the front, he's all over the place.
13:05You've got to be stiller than that on the way down.
13:07And it just drops.
13:08Good release off the ramp.
13:11And then it starts to go wrong from there as his legs fly up towards the front of it.
13:17Now let's have a look at the performance.
13:1932.
13:19I don't think that's going to trouble the leaderboard too much today.
13:22Now the next team is a bizarre group of people called Nooper.
13:28And basically they spotted somebody who couldn't go to the toilet with their clothes on.
13:33So they've designed a plane here that's based on a toilet roll.
13:37It's all something that we don't really want to go into too much.
13:40But I'll kind of leave it to your own imagination.
13:42But let's see whether Lou Rolls can fly.
13:45It looks quite flimsy, I think.
13:47Don't you look at the wings there?
13:48I'm not necessarily sure that they're going to be too strong.
13:52John is the pilot.
13:53There is John.
13:54And it doesn't look like he's got an awful lot above his head.
13:57He's got a lot below though.
13:59The toilet roll is the launch vehicle.
14:01Now off he goes!
14:01And he's gone down.
14:03And he's got what he got there.
14:0513.7 meters.
14:10Off go the rest of the team.
14:14There's John.
14:16There's the release.
14:19It just starts to bend.
14:20Look, you see, it's far too flimsy.
14:21They've got to keep the wings out straight to get any kind of air underneath them.
14:25The minute the wings start to fold like that, you are going one way.
14:29And Nooper's performance score is 35.
14:33Team Nooper, this is very, very cosy.
14:35I'm just going to try and keep my eyes up to be wearing choice outfits.
14:39But what a flight.
14:40It was going so well until those wings just sort of capitulated up and broke.
14:44What happened?
14:45Yeah, we built it out of aluminum.
14:47We thought it would be strong enough.
14:48You know, next time I think we're going to reinforce it a little bit more.
14:51One, two, three.
14:52Nooper!
14:53If you're going to build a rock-themed flying machine, there are four things you need on
14:58your checklist.
14:59First up, Metallica Power Stance.
15:01Check.
15:01A Kiss Tongue.
15:02Check.
15:03An Eddie Van Halen Machine Gun.
15:05Check.
15:05And a David Lee Roth Action Jump.
15:08Yes.
15:09Plus, you need a pilot with no shortage of fishnet.
15:12Hannah, can this thing fly?
15:13Yes, it can.
15:14Okay, let's find out how Aviate got here.
15:18Hi.
15:19Don't hate.
15:19I'm from Aviate.
15:20I can't do that.
15:21That's too terrible.
15:23I'm from Team Aviate.
15:26I'm Jason, the captain.
15:28We have our three pushers.
15:30Chris, Justin, and Andy.
15:33We have the pilot, Hannah, who's actually also my wife.
15:37Jason would probably like to see me fall flat in the water.
15:40Because I have a life insurance policy.
15:45The goal is for this to not go well, so I can retire.
15:52Our pusher launch cart is a giant guitar on wheels, and then our flight craft is a keyboard.
15:58The biggest challenge about the build has been trying to understand aeronautical engineering,
16:04which is a minimum of a four-year degree in a couple of weeks.
16:08We've actually done a pretty good job of coming upon decisions that need to be made,
16:12and then being democratic.
16:13And by being democratic, I mean I say this is what we're going to do,
16:16and they either agree or I ask them to leave.
16:20Well, it looks like these guys are going to enjoy themselves here today.
16:23Aviate.
16:24Hannah is the pilot, as she told you in the video there,
16:26that she's done it because she's got a life insurance policy.
16:30Let's hope she doesn't need it here in Louisville today.
16:32Okay.
16:35She's really rocking that electric guitar there as well as this.
16:37Anyway, you've got to get on board now, Hannah.
16:39Off you go.
16:44All the best.
16:48She can hear her saying there, it's not straight.
16:50And off they go, and it flies okay, though, doesn't it?
16:53And she was hanging on to that for all she could.
16:55The little legs were going below to try and get a bit of extra distance.
16:5816.4.
17:00She was nervous at the top.
17:01She didn't think it was going to go straight, but it went quite a long way.
17:04It's a good flight.
17:05She's tried everything she can.
17:06Watch the legs go now.
17:07That's to try and get a few more meters long.
17:09You can't run in the air, Hannah, but she tried her best.
17:13And the AV8 going to the Ohio River after a decent flight there, 54 feet.
17:20And that's not bad.
17:21And 38 out of 50 for the performance as well.
17:23Jason, are you gutted?
17:27You won't be able to cash in on that life insurance policy.
17:31I can't begin to tell you how gutted I am.
17:34Absolutely not.
17:37Love this one.
17:39It's all love.
17:40It's all love.
17:40Can I hear it?
17:41Especially for Hannah and all of Team AV8.
17:43Yes.
17:45And can I have a bit of a headbang?
17:48That is exactly how I wanted to go out.
17:50Darren Fletcher, who have we got next?
17:52Thank you very much indeed, because we've got the Vinyl Frontier.
17:57That's supposed to be a big record, a vinyl disc.
17:59If you know what they are, great.
18:01If you don't, ask your mum and dad.
18:03They're hoping to make sweet music here in Louisville.
18:05No needle with this team at all.
18:08Can they hit the right note here over the Ohio River?
18:12That's enough of that.
18:13Enough of that.
18:14I'm getting carried away.
18:15Let's see what the Vinyl Frontier can do.
18:17It's certainly a strange-looking craft.
18:19Will it fly?
18:20We're about to fly.
18:21Oh, they've all gone at the same time.
18:23And it's flipped over.
18:26Didn't get very far, did it?
18:27It's just a big round circle.
18:29It looks nothing like a plane.
18:31Ten metres.
18:31They managed to release in time, and then the pilots really just dragged it down.
18:44Let's have a look at the performance score in a minute, because they might need that splash.
18:48Well, 31, 31 out of 50.
18:53Not good.
18:54Hey, I'm from Team Mad Max.
18:57My name's Jeremiah.
18:58I'm the captain and the pilot.
19:00On my team, we have four pushers.
19:02We have Ryan, Danny, Greg, and Nicky.
19:04We've definitely put a pretty large commitment into this.
19:08Besides the man hours, I've lost weight.
19:12You know, I can take weight off much easier than we can take weight off the plane, and I've
19:16lost about two stone in three months for this.
19:20And actually, I'm having to gain weight to fly this thing.
19:23I lost too much weight.
19:24So, they're definitely going to have to bring an A game.
19:27You know, if we put a lot, a lot of effort into this, and they're going to have to just
19:32be really, really good or put in more effort than us, people are going to look at our craft,
19:37and they're going to go, we've got some competition, so.
19:40Well, they're certainly talking a good game, aren't they?
19:44Mad Max.
19:46Mad Max.
19:54There's the performance.
19:58It's all a bit sinister, this one, don't you think?
20:01Had a flying record last time.
20:03Now we've got a group that you don't really want to bump into on a dark night.
20:05Let's see what they do.
20:10Jeremiah is the pilot.
20:11He's got his game face on.
20:14Off we go, towards the end of the ramp, and there's the release, and it's looking good.
20:18It's looking really good.
20:19It was a really good flight.
20:21Well, they might have looked like a group not to mess with, but they got 22 meters from
20:25their plane.
20:26And it flew well.
20:29And we tend to see that, don't we?
20:32The smoother the flight, the further it goes.
20:35And look at that one.
20:36It's on a nice trajectory, all the way down.
20:4075 feet, if you want it, in old money.
20:46And then we see the craft break.
20:48I don't quite know what he's reaching for there, whether he's just hanging on or not.
20:54But it was a good flight, that from Mad Max.
20:56They'll take some beating today, especially with that performance score of 45.
21:01Huge scores.
21:02You must be happy with that.
21:03Yeah, we're happy with that.
21:04Well, that's one part of it that might get us to the winner's podium.
21:07Because it's about so much more than just the flight.
21:09It is the performance.
21:10It is the ingenuity of the craft.
21:12But you do seem a bit disappointed.
21:14Oh, of course.
21:15Yeah.
21:16I mean, we were one to beat a record.
21:17So, you know, wins just wasn't cooperating.
21:19All right.
21:20Well, I'll go and let you take your makeup off, because it's miraculously stayed intact,
21:23despite jumping into the Ohio.
21:25And right back to you on the flight deck.
21:27Okay.
21:28For When Blowfish Fly.
21:31It's an all-girls team.
21:32They all work together.
21:34And the company they work for is called Blowfish, hence why they've called their team that today.
21:40It's an under-the-sea theme.
21:41They want to be on top of the water for as long as they possibly can, which means they've
21:45had a decent flight.
21:47Probably the most glamorous team we've had today.
21:51And a nice refreshing sight after the grizzled Mad Max team that we saw before this one.
21:56So, let's have a look at this when Blowfish fly.
22:01Is that going to fly?
22:07It doesn't look like a plane.
22:08It just looks like a round ball, but we'll just see what it does.
22:12Looks like a brain, actually, doesn't it?
22:14Here we go, then, towards the ramp.
22:16Oh!
22:17Straight off the front.
22:18Yeah, it didn't fly, did it?
22:20He ejected ahead of time.
22:22It's like, he's getting on it.
22:238.2 metres.
22:25I guess we now know what has happened when Blowfish tried to fly.
22:29Off they go.
22:30It didn't work.
22:31I can see the idea.
22:32Well, I can't really.
22:33I can't see the idea.
22:34I don't know why I'm saying that.
22:35It's just a round ball.
22:36How are you supposed to get a round ball to fly?
22:39She's straight off.
22:41Look, face first.
22:43They've enjoyed it.
22:44Look, this all in the spirit of the day.
22:46It's been a fantastic competition again here in Louisville.
22:4924 out of 50.
22:50Thanks for coming.
22:52So, we're in the home of Muhammad Ali.
22:54So, Ed, tell us, who is the greatest today?
22:59Third place goes to the local favourites, Kentucky Power.
23:02In second place, it's Daisy's Posse and the Dukes of Hazardous.
23:06Who, despite having the longest flight of the day,
23:08were pipped on the overall score by today's Masters of the Ohio River.
23:13The magnificent, if slightly intimidating, Mad Max.
23:21How are you feeling?
23:22Pumped. Excited. We won.
23:24Were you expecting to win?
23:26Yeah, I think we were.
23:28Just confidence, just paid off.
23:30I know you put a lot of hard work in over quite a long time,
23:33and it's really shown.
23:35I'm glad it did.
23:37We probably got 1,500 man hours working on it every night,
23:40after work, late into the night.
23:42You know, this was the payoff.
23:43So, we're excited, we're all happy, and we had fun.
23:46Yes.
23:47The champions of Red Bull Flugtag, Louisville, Mad Max.
23:50And with those crazy looking men with their white painted heads,
24:09we draw to a close an incredible day of Flugtag action here in Louisville, Kentucky.
24:15What was your highlight, Vic?
24:17Oh, it's hard, Ed, but it's got to be Team AVA.
24:20You know I love music, and to have that as part of your craft was brilliant.
24:24And if you're going to fly, fly while headbanging.
24:26Furthermore, they had those winglets, those dihedral foils,
24:29which really helped its flight.
24:32And the fact that Hannah was the pilot by default, I just salute her.
24:35What about you?
24:36Dukes of Hazardous, undoubtedly.
24:39It shows my age with that nostalgia,
24:41but watching Daisy Duke with a hairy cleavage and stomach sitting on a swing,
24:45I thought they were going to get quite a rough ride,
24:47but they were so graceful as they glided down into the water.
24:51It wasn't hazardous at all, it was smooth.
24:53It was very smooth.
24:54And with that, all that's left to say is thank you for watching.
24:57See you next time.
25:06See you next time.
25:36See you next time.
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