Red Bull Flugtag Watched By 500,000 Across Five Cities

The world renowned Red Bull Flugtag held its 12th annual event in cities around America on Saturday.

The events — which were held simultaneously in Miami, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Dallas, and Long Beach — were watched by over half a million excited spectators.

The word flugtag actually means flying day in German and has become a popular annual event with a cult like following. Human powered flying machines of various wacky descriptions are launched from a platform over a lake or river. Whoever flies the furthest, and shows a flair for creativity, wins.

The Chicken Whisperers who come from California not only won the Long Beach Red Bull Flugtag this year but set a new world record of 258 feet, smashing the previous record set in Germany in 2012.

Here is a list of the winners at the events along with a quote from the team in position one:

WASHINGTON, D.C. 1 st Place – Harvest Bureau (New Holland, Penn.) 54 feet 2 nd Place – Viking Army (New Jersey) 51 feet 3 rd Place – Duck Hunt (Richmond, Va.) 51 feet People’s Choice – Made in ‘Murica (McGaheysville, Va.) 36 feet

Winner’s Quote: “We had high hopes and we knew we had a solid craft. Farmers work in the rain or shine and the result exceeded our expectations,” said Harvest Bureau crew member Ryan Grabowski. “When we saw it take flight, it was a great feeling.”

MIAMI

1 st Place – The Flugtag Flying Dead (Tampa, Fla.) 120 feet 2 nd Place – Hard Rock Flying Legendary Burger (Orlando, Fla.) 57 feet 3 rd Place – Team O’Daly’s Mustache Ride (Mobile, Ala.) 69 feet People’s Choice – Gator Aviators (Gainesville, Fla.) 69 feet

Winner’s Quote: “We had so many setbacks while building, but we finally caught some luck and good weather to finish what we really felt was a great craft,” said Kevin Riley, captain of Team Flugtag Flying Dead. This is the team’s third Red Bull Flugtag victory.

DALLAS

1 st Place – Texas Tomcats (Hallsville, Tex.) 72 feet 2 nd Place – Ducktape Dynasty (Denton, Tex.) 42 feet 3 rd Place – Texas Bull Fighters (Ft. Worth) 36 feet People’s Choice – Gas Monkey Garage (Dallas) 9 feet

Winner’s Quote: “A whole lot of prep went into our craft. We worked some long, long nights,” said Nathan O’Quinn, pilot of the mock F-14 Tomcat craft. “We were also lucky enough to get some serious wind straight off the flight deck that let us soar over the lake.”

CHICAGO

1 st Place – Chicago Duck Hunt (Chicago) 39 feet 2 nd Place – The Bamzoniacs (Rochelle, Ill.) 57 feet 3 rd Place – My Favorite Team (Highland Park, Ill.) 48 feet People’s Choice – Hell on Heels (Chicago) 42 feet

Winner’s Quote: “We’re so ecstatic and pumped about today, this trophy is going on our table tonight!” said Manuel Alfaro, whose five-person crew came together for a second chance at flight in the Windy City. “This is a life changing event, and we’re so glad we go the opportunity to fly this year.”

LONG BEACH

1 st Place – The Chicken Whisperers (Palo Alto, Calif.) 258 feet *new world record! 2 nd Place – Legendary Flying Machine (Long Beach, Calif.) 108 feet 3 rd Place – Oakley Factory Pilots (Foothill Ranch, Calif.) 60 feet People’s Choice – Red, White and Brew (Reedley, Calif.) 48 feet

Were you among the 500,000 people who saw the Red Bull Flugtag this year? If you were, or even if not, share your comments in the feed below.