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Red Bull Flugtag returns to Tampa
Jordan Bowen reports.
TAMPA, Fla. - For the third time ever, the Red Bull Flugtag is back in Tampa.
It's a one-of-a-kind competition where teams make homemade aircrafts then try to get them to soar over the water from a 27-foot flight deck, which is a nod to the company's slogan "Red Bull gives you wings."
"I just wanted to always fly since I was a little boy, I just wanted to fly a little airplane. When I saw the commercial, I said, my God, I can do this," Polk County Hillbillies team member Jeff Caudill said.
One by one, 28 different teams of wacky engineers and fearless pilots tried to fulfill their dream of flying. The event drew a crowd of upwards of 80,000 people in and around downtown and the Tampa Convention Center.
Previously, Red Bull held the Flugtug in 2008 and in 2011. Each team comes up with a theme complete with costumes, a beginning skit and music, along with engineers and pilots in full character.
"It was about two months since we started on this, but then the hurricane come and I had to restore power for about 17 days. So we lost a little bit of time. But, you know, it all came together. And it's going to be sad when I have to go into the bay. I'm going to be a little upset about it," Caudill said.
Caudill came up with the Polk County Hillbillies for his team name and, while there is no way to really test the aircraft before flight, Caudill says he's confident in their creation.
"We're just going to try. There is no testing. We're just going to fly, fly, fly," Caudill said.
The winner was the Flug Shag team from Orlando with a total distance of 51 feet.
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