Team Happily Ever After competes at the Flugtag competition.
Flugtag Story aired: Monday, October 20, 2003
Recently in New York City, about 40,000 people gathered to witness one of the most obscene and hilarious displays of human stupidity ever conceived. It's called Flugtag, pronounced "floog-tog," which is German for "flying day." The object of the competition is for teams to "fly" homemade contraptions into a body of water. In this case, off a barge and into the Hudson River. A panel of judges score the teams based on distance, creativity, and showmanship. Believe it or not, a few ground rules for this nuttiness do exist. A team's craft must be human-powered -- no engines or external energy sources are allowed. It also must be less than 30 feet wide and not more than 450 lbs, including the pilot, who must be at least 18 years old. Other than that, the sky's the limit! Further, there are prizes: $7,500 or pilot lessons to the winner, $3,000 or paragliding lessons for second place, and $1,500 or skydiving lessons for third place.
Founded in Austria 12 years ago by the brainchild of Red Bull energy drinks, the first Flugtag staged in the United States took place just last year in San Francisco. The largest crowd ever for a Flugtag event was 250,000 spectators in Warsaw, Poland in 1999. The farthest flight was an astounding 195 feet in Europe, with the American record being 70 feet. On the day of the Big Apple event, a strong tail wind deceived onlookers into thinking the crafts would go far, but in fact, what the somewhat aerodynamic inventions needed was a hefty headwind. As an unfortunate but hysterical result, most teams and their crafts launched dramatically off the barge only to nose dive right into the Hudson.
Thirty-six teams competed at Hudson River Park on the Lower West Side. They came from all over the country, but producer Karen Pelland decided to focus on a local entry, Team Disco Ball Bagel Bike-O-Tron from New York City. Team leader Matt McGregor-Mento coerced his wife, Emma McGregor-Mento, and three friends, Michelle Rainer, Jarod Shapiro, and Rich Pinto to participate.
