Engineering students enter their flying machine in Red Bull Flugtag

Ingenious like the Wright brothers, or foolhardy like Icarus? A group of engineering students will cement their reputations one way or the other when they test a homemade flying machine in front of tens of thousands of spectators.

On Saturday, they will distinguish themselves as the only college team to enter the 2026 Red Bull Flugtag Miami. The whimsical competition features dozens of human-powered aircraft taking off, one at a time, from a 30-foot platform overlooking Biscayne Bay.

The undergrads spent two months building their contraption in between schoolwork and jobs. The hardest part?

Not the limited funds with which they had to work. The students stayed within their means by choosing relatively inexpensive materials such as plywood and tarp.

Not the organizers’ size and weight restrictions. The crew simply chose the lightest guy among them to serve as the pilot, who counts toward the 400-pound overall limit.

The most difficult aspect was “Honestly, storage,” says junior electrical engineering major Felix Fraile, in whose home the project began. “At one point, I had a 12-foot structure in my room.”

The team has since moved to a makerspace at FIU’s Engineering Center, which offered plenty of clearance as well as access to power tools and precision instruments.

Coming up with the initial design, Fraile explains, had everyone putting on thinking caps, but the final decision rested on two things: the aforementioned lack of budget and how each of the proposed models performed in digital simulations, for which they used a computing plaform made available through the university. The end result resembles a glider and, with pilot in place, will be given a running start by four team members who will push it off the launch pad.

Whether or not FIU triumphs in total distance flown – previous winners of Flugtag, which takes place a few times per year around the world, have traveled nearly 80 feet before splashdown – the judges also give credit for construction quality and durability in addition to a pre-flight skit and group costume.

The students will don flesh-colored skullcaps and dress suits (purchased at Goodwill) à la Pitbull and bust a few moves to the famed singer’s “Damn I Love Miami” before all ending up in the water.

Fraile says his idea to enter began as a marketing ploy to attract new members to the IEEE club. He is the “chair of technical projects” for the org, which caters to electrical engineering majors, although he invited students with any background to consider contributing to the project.

“I want the club to be big,” Fraile says of his clever promotional stunt, which appears to have worked as “membership is going up at a rapid rate,” he continues. “That's the main thing. I wanted to send a message that we want to do big things.”