Greased Lightning, 2nd Place at Red Bull Flugtag

These guys did Danny Zuko and the guys proud! Team Greased Lightning took second prize with a flight of 55 feet! The guys danced up a storm, too.


This guy did a flip--I caught him in mid-air. Rather, the camera caught him!




The pilot climbs aboard as one team member jumps straight up and another ducks beneath the wing, on the way to his position to push the craft down the flight deck.


There it goes! See the team members still on the flight deck? I can't remember for sure, but one of them may be the guy who did a flip off the deck and headed for the water pretty much upside down. Anyone who was there know for sure? I wish I had got that photo, doggone it.


See the giant Lego guy's head on the Sheriff's boat, the one about the drag away the wings? It came from an earlier entry's decor, Team Lego My Red Bull. I think it looks neat there on top of the wheel house. Is that what you call that part of the boat?


HOME HANGAR: Lake Oswego, OR
PILOT: Tracy Hasson
FLIGHT CREW: Grant Branham, Robert Christner, Todd Conger, Daniel Leach

ITINERARY: Grant Branham, Robert Christner, Todd Conger, Tracy Hasson, and Daniel Leach go together like ramma lamma lamma ka dinga da dinga dong. All proud Oregon State Beavers, they’re spending their summer ni-ights building an aircraft shaped like a 1950s hot rod for Red Bull Flugtag Portland.

Tell you more, tell you more? Well, Robert, Daniel, and Tracy play on the Oregon State men’s soccer team, Todd is an Eagle Scout, and Grant has been a lifeguard for four years. (Maybe he can pluck Tracy out of the Willamette after splashdown – Hasson was elected pilot because he’s the lightest of the crew.) For their skit, these students are skipping the hand jive and instead will be recreating the Greased Lightning dance from the 1978 movie “Grease.” None of them has choreographic training, but they’re hopelessly devoted to making it work. “Flugtag is a great opportunity to have fun, show some innovation, and experience something that will last a lifetime,” Tracy says. “This memory will be with us until the grave, or at least until the next Flugtag.” We can only hope that their flight is successful and that their summer dreams aren’t ripped at the seams. Or, at the very least, that they’re the one the crowd wants – oo oo ooo. (Honey.)

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