2008 Redbull Flugtag: One team's story told in pictures

Read previous dispatches The Perfect Getaway  and the 2008 Flugtag.

All photos by Justin Goh.

In the end, The Perfect Getaway and their mob-themed flying machine, The Moberati, made its debut flight in front of an estimated 70,000 onlookers, plunging down into Lake Michigan off the edge of Redbull's 30-foot platform.  The team put hundreds of hours of planning into the event and managed to escape with their lives and dignity intact.  The event itself went off without a hitch, as well, with the weather cooperating. Below we will tell their story in pictures.

Pre-flight team sentiments were mostly of excitement and perhaps anxiety. David just wanted everyone to come out alive. While participants gathered in the so-called hangar seemed to be busy running around meeting friends or taking photographs, most seemed quietly nervous about the 300 yards of flight deck and 30 foot drop that awaited them.

Later, post-flight, the mood was a little more sedate, "I'm a little sore but we had a good time," David remarks. He hurt his tail bone and he and Lindsey both got a little scratched up from falling onto the car as they went into the water.

The Pefect Getaway didn't win any awards but seemed thrilled just to have taken part. The winning team flew over a hundred and twenty feet. A distance no other team came close to matching. The People's Choice went to The USHE whose theme was based on the popular arcade game, Mario Brothers. I guess in this town Mario Brothers trumps Al Capone.

The Perfect Getaway's 2008 Flugtag told in pictures:

The Team poses for a photo prior to liftoff.