Meet some of the Tampa Flugtag Teams

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We were able to briefly interview a handful of the Flugtag teams, and there strategies are about as diverse as their flying machines!

The first group we spoke to was By The Beard of Zeus. Each member is an engineering student at UF who all have a good understanding of lift, aerodynamics, and all the other sciences necessary to make things fly. Chris, the team’s captain, carried most of the conversation, but various other members chimed in as well.

When asked about their name, they explained that they decided to go with a Greek theme. They did clarify that the glider would not be a giant flying beard, but actually would be a set of feathered wings. They decided to go with the wing idea when recalling the story in Greek mythology, about Icarus. Chris went on to explain how “Icarus received a great pair of wings from his father so that he could fly, but he crashed and burned.”

Chris had seen videos of past Flugtags, and new he had to participate when he heard that it was coming to Tampa. He sent out an e-mail to the whole school of engineering in May, and soon had a team. They had about two and a half months to come up with a design for their craft and build it. The team has come up with a design that, as far as they know, has not been done before: a fixed-wing paraglider with an airfoil. Although they do not intend to test fly the craft, one crew member said “theoretically it should fly. Well, fall slowly”

We also spoke to the pilot, John. He loves doing crazy things and extreme sports, and is an avid surfer. John admitted that he has no flying experience, but does have ample experience breaking bones. “I’m ready for the crash portion.”

By the Beard of Zeus plans on winning all four categories. They feel that they have a craft the looks great and will out fly the competition. They hope that their toga uniforms and skit is going to win the crowd over too. It sounds like this team really means business.