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Nikki Tundel
St. Paul, Minn.

Daring young women build a flying machine for Flugtag

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Building their flugtag machine
Chicks-on-a-Stick is one of 37 teams competing in the 2010 Red Bull Flugtag on Harriet Island in St. Paul. The team's five female members have spent more than 100 hours building their amateur flying machine.
MPR Photo/Nikki Tundel

About 40,000 spectators are expected to watch the Red Bull Flugtag competition going on this afternoon on Harriet Island in St. Paul.

Flugtag, which means "flying day" in German, challenges teams to design, build and pilot homemade flying machines off a 30-foot high flight deck, in hopes of going airborne for more than a few seconds. At some point, they end up in the water below.

Flugtag competitors are judged on more than just their time in the air. Points are also given for creativity and showmanship.

We've followed one team called Chicks on a Stick as they prepared their "Flying Pickle Dog" to compete.

Gallery
9 of 9
Pickle pilot
Teammate Joyce Roffler will be piloting the Flying Pickle Dog. The maximum weight for a Flugtag entry is 450 pounds. That total includes the weight of the pilot.
MPR News Photo / Nikki Tundel
1 of 9
Building their flugtag machine
Chicks-on-a-Stick is one of 37 teams competing in the 2010 Red Bull Flugtag on Harriet Island in St. Paul. The team's five female members have spent more than 100 hours building their amateur flying machine.
MPR Photo/Nikki Tundel
2 of 9
The Flying Pickle Dog
The members of Chicks-on-a-Stick were inspired by the Minnesota State Fair and the impaled food found there. Their aircraft, the Flying Pickle Dog, is a tribute to the fair's pickle dog snack, which consists of pastrami and cream cheese wrapped around a pickle.
MPR News Photo / Nikki Tundel