Tired of filing complex IFR flight plans, getting transponder codes or sinking money into a TBO? Imagine flying free as a bird — at least for six seconds. Matt Kieltyka, one of the young-gun reporters at Vancouver’s 24 hours newspaper, came to me one March day with a press release from the folks who make the Red Bull energy drink, telling us about FlugTag 2006 in Vancouver.

FlugTag, which is German for “flying day”, began in Austria in 1991 and spread around the world. The idea is to build a human-powered flying machine, with a wingspan less than nine metres and weighing less than 200 kilograms, and run the craft off a dock — a very high dock. Whoever flies furthest, wins. There are also points for a pre-flight show and overall innovation.

With Matt volunteering to pilot, I took a look at my accumulated aircraft drawings and put a plan together for an “old-school” biplane. I took scale drawings for a Farman biplane, merged them with another set of plans for a Bristol Boxkite and turned them into something we could build with handtools on the office deck. The Orange Baron was born and the plans sent off to Red Bull.

A panel of judges looked at about 200 entries from across Canada and narrowed the field down to the final 31 destined to compete. Teams ranged from the Magic Dome of Science, which flew by “magic,” all the way to the Big Shooter, which used high-tech composites designed by a sailboard manufacturer. The judges also chose the Orange Baron.

Editor-in-chief Dean Broughton came up with some cash and the project began. Planning started in March and the plane finally flew — for about six seconds — at the FlugTag in Vancouver in August.

My original plan had graceful linen-covered wings with Sitka Spruce spars. However, the materials list required some adjustment when I realized the plane only had to fly one way and was destined to make a water landing. Aviation plywood ribs were replaced with building-grade plywood and clear Sitka spruce stringers were replaced with two-by-twos from the lumberyard. Bicycle wheels made up the undercarriage.

Matt is an avid snowboarder but not a pilot, so conventional controls were dumped in favour of a rudimentary weight-shift system. Lean left to go left and shift back to flare for “landing” — okay, make that splashdown. Doped linen was replaced with an airtight plastic covering topped with orange fabric from the Punjabi market in Vancouver, courtesy fashion reporter Carly Krug. 24 hours graphics guru Karolyn Masters created the racy orange panels with the company logo. The eventual price came in at just over $500.
Karolyn was joined on the four-member pushing team by copy editors Tim Campbell and Keith Mackenzie, along with ad rep Terry Craig. The Orange Baron flew just over five metres and Matt swam away with no injuries.

The one-day event, which was held August 19 on the Concord Pacific lands in downtown Vancouver this year, brought in 40,000 people to the initial Canadian FlugTag. The carbon-fibre Big Shooter won and set a Canadian distance record at 26.5 metres.

The airframe’s fate? They tell me the last time it was seen, workers were chopping it up with a chainsaw for disposal. I couldn’t watch.

We’re now planning for FlugTag 2007.