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Hong Kong Airlines Flying Machine Competition
If ever you strapped cardboard wings onto your arms and attempted to take flight from the roof or balcony of your home, this is the event for you.
The Hong Kong Airlines Flying Machine Competition ties in with the 100th anniversary of aviation in our city and, much like last year’s Red Bull Flugtag, contestants will build flying machines which are solely human-powered, then push it down a 25m-long runway and let it ‘fly’ until it plops into Victoria Harbour.
Considering that teams will be judged not only on their machine’s flying distance but also it’s design (plus a 30-second performance before their contraption takes flight), we can tell it’ll be little more than fun and games. But for those who remember last year’s Flugtag, watching these hunks of junk crash into the harbour is easily as entertaining as seeing their attempts to take flight.
Still, for Karl Li, a member of the HKA Eagles – Hong Kong Airlines’ very own team, the challenge was one taken in earnest. “It is quite difficult to do well [with] these three criteria,” he says.
Li and his teammates, who are all staff from Hong Kong Airlines, have formed a strong passion for designing, building and flying their own machine.
“We got our inspiration from a brand new engine for a Hong Kong Airlines aircraft last year,” says Li. “We all agreed that it should be the body of our machine since it’s cute and eye-catching.”
To outsiders, it’s hard to imagine how a 400lb contraption could take to the skies – but the HKA Eagles are confident. “The machine is built with its body and wings to a particular proportion so that it [can] fly,” says Li. “Well, at least according to our aerodynamic book, it should!”
Preparation for their flying machine is already underway. “We have already done all the parts of the machine. As soon as the building area in Tsim Sha Tsui is ready for us, we will assemble it there,” says Li.
Expect a large crowd to form alongside the Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront. The area off the Hong Kong Cultural Centre will be blocked off for contestants and staff to access only – but we recommend you nab a spot along the Avenue of Stars or the Star Ferry pier, as both will provide good vantage points. Whether these makeshift planes will take to the skies or sink like a stone, we think the first-ever event will prove to be a comical breath of fresh air, if you catch our drift.
Promenade near Hong Kong Cultural Centre Tsim Sha Tsui Sep 17 12noon - 4pm
Celine Lau
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