A Seton Hall graduate student will be participating in this year's Red Bull Flugtag event on Sept. 15 in Penn's Landing, Pa., in which he will launch a homemade, amateur flying apparatus into the Delaware River.
Sean Loges, a fourth year graduate student in the Physical Therapy program and teammate Ariel Castro are representing Seton Hall in this year's competition. They said they encourage students to come show support and ultimately have a fun time at a unique event.
"The event involves building a homemade aircraft to launch off a 30 foot deck, being judged on flight distance, creativity and showmanship," Loges said.
Loges said that he and his teammates learned about the Flugtag (German for "flight day") competition from YouTube videos and constructed their craft through trial-and-error along with ample trips to Home Depot. He said the end result is very promising.
"It is sure to be a ton of fun to watch," Loges said. "Besides the scores from the judges there is also a People's Choice Award which is determined by text voting."
To vote for Loges' team, Apollo's Cavalry, text "Team 5" to the number 72855 between Thursday, Sept. 13 and the last launch on Sept. 15. For more information on text-voting terms visit http://win.gs/trms.
The Red Bull Flugtag event's interactive experience offers a chance for the audience to get involved in voting, according to Loges.
Loges said Among the 34 teams competing, only the top three will receive action-packed prizes such as a skydiving trip for 10 friends to Freefall Adventures in N.J., a weekend snowboard trip at Big Boulder and a New York Red Bulls Soccer trip with tickets for 10 friends.
Loges added that The People's Choice Award offers a trip to the Philadelphia Circus School for 10 friends along with dinner in the city. Loges said his team was among the 34 who made it to the final competition out of over 100 applications.
"We are feeling pretty confident that we are one of the top teams in this competition and have a great shot at getting on the podium," Loges said. Last year's total attendance topped 70,000, but this year Loges and the rest of the Flugtag crew said they hope to see more representation from the Seton Hall student body. The Red Bull Flugtag event is free for all who attend and is open to the public. Viewing areas are also available at the Camden, N.J., waterfront. Crowds will begin to gather at 11 a.m. to watch teams launch homemade amateur flying apparatuses into the Delaware River starting at 1 p.m.
Mary Marshall can be reached at mary.marshall@student.shu.edu.
