A Little About Our Project
We are three seniors majoring in Engineering Physics from Tulane University, and for our senior design project we were tasked to create a flying machine to be entered in Red Bull's Flugtag competition. All three of us were looking for a project that maximized the enjoyment of the design process and allowed for our creative voices to be heard in every aspect of our design.
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With little background in aeronautics, we had to learn a lot about what goes into making an aircraft fly and the dynamics involved in sustained flight. We all greatly appreciate everything this project taught us - from gaining an understanding of how engineering standards are incorporated into designs, to exposure to a new field of engineering, and everything in between.
We all came away better engineers from this, and we hope you enjoy checking out some of the details that went into our design process.
Red Bull Flugtag
Flugtag is an event organized by Red Bull that competitors attempt to fly home-made, human-powered flying machines. The size of these machines are limited to 24 feet wide, 20 feet long, with a maximum weight of 400 pounds including the pilot. The flying machines are launched off a pier 30ft in height. There are usually 1-2 Flugtag events each year held in different locations around the world. Unfortunately there was not an event being held in 2020.
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Each flying machine consists of the glider itself and a base component that is used to push the glider down the runway and launch it off of the pier. The caveat that makes Red Bull Flugtag such a unique and fun event is that each craft must have a "pilot" that stays in/on the glider as it is launched.
Check out the video below for some background on the Flugtag competition and some highlights from recent Flugtag events!
Check out the a video of the current Flugtag world record! The mark of 258 feet was set by the 'Chicken Whisperers' in 2013 in Long Beach, CA.