Homemade flying machines – The best of Red Bull Flugtag 2013

The 2013 Red Bull Flugtag was held over the weekend and for the first time ever, it was a nationwide event with five cities taking part on Sunday. Teams in Miami, Long Beach, Chicago, Dallas, and Washington DC competed to see whose flying contraption would glide the farthest before coming crashing down into the ocean, destroying hundreds of hours of work in a matter of seconds.

The rules? Your flying machine must be human powered, can’t be more than 28 feet long and can not weigh more than 400 pounds (including the pilot).

In Long Beach, the Chicken Whisperers from Palo Alto, a group of aerospace engineers in chicken costumes, were declared the Flugtag champions with their impressive flight of 258 feet, setting a new world record in the process.

The competitive nature took a backseat to just having a good time, though, and it looks like all the teams really enjoyed themselves.