'Flugtag' Brings Home-Made Flying Machines To Charles River

BOSTON (CBS) - The skies above the Charles River will be busy Saturday, dotted with home-made flying machines.

Red Bull is hosting its annual Flugtag in Boston this weekend, in an event sponsored by 98.5 the Sports Hub.

Flugtag, which means "flying day" in German, is more like "plummeting day."

Contestants build home-made flying machines and then launch them off a 28-foot high flight deck in the river.

Watch: WBZ-TV's Danielle Niles flies "Larry The Bird"

Thirty teams will be judged on flight distance, creativity of the craft, and showmanship.

Those teams include drone pilots, engineers, MIT students and even a particle physicist.

They will all try to get airborne just long enough to break the 258-foot distance-record before plunging into the Charles River.

Red Bull holds these events around the world each year. This is the first time it's come to Boston.

It's free to the public on the Esplanade. It opens at 11 a.m. Saturday.

For more information, click here.

WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Carl Stevens reports