HS Helsinki | People tried to connect with strange tricks at a giant event in Tokoinranta – “Not flown to Tallinn here”

it’s saturday and more than 10,000 people have gathered in Tokoinranta, Helsinki’s Kallio, to marvel at a very special air show.

An attention-grabbing event is Red Bull’s flight day, where groups dressed in funny costumes try to take off from a five-meter tower in their own airplanes. The most important thing is not the functionality of the trick or the flight length, but the creativity and showy show elements. A celebrity jury sitting in the tower evaluates the performances.

Each team may consist of a maximum of five people, of whom only one may fly into the sea in the device. Before that, the team performs a show related to their theme.

One by one, more special tunes fly from the tower. At least the sauna, Santa’s sleigh and a huge snowman try to test gravity.

The warm weather provides perfect conditions for an outdoor event. Splashing in the cool water hardly bothers the competitors who have been waiting their turn while the sun is shining.

On flight duty after one in the afternoon is the Physicist’s Guild. The team bearing the name of the student association consists of physics students from Aalto University. The group of teetotalers is dressed in white overalls.

The aircraft assembled by the group represents the guild’s mascot, the mouse.

The group of friends says they got excited about the event after seeing it mentioned on the association’s information channel. According to their words, the group has strong faith in their ship.

“Yes, we will fly at least 200 meters”, believes the ship’s pilot Severi Kasurinen.

It’s the other way around, because the Physic Guild’s instrument quickly crashes into the water after a sideways skid in the air. Kasurinen rises from the water and the presenter comments on the performance Juuso “Köpi” Kallio.

“We didn’t fly to Tallinn here either,” says Kasurinen.

He explains the short flight with logistical difficulties. The plane’s wings should have been wider, but the materials were not available.

“I got the overalls cleaned!” Kasurinen says and laughs.

After a while, it’s the turn of a team called Siipipeikot, who will perform a flight with their device called Spitwater. Härveli imitates the shape of Spitfire fighters from the Second World War.

The pilot of the plane Roope Tapper tells you that emotions are tense.

“There is such a steady tension. However, the heart rate has not risen very high,” he describes.

Aki Kalke has worked as the chief engineer of the Siipipeikko project. He says that he drew the sketches of the machine. Due to a lack of material, the wings turned out to be slightly different than planned, but otherwise he is satisfied with the end result.

“This is like Spitfire’s milder little brother,” says Kalke.

Historical fighters have been described as the horror of the world. Spitwater may not be worthy of such descriptions, but it still plunged into the sea at high speed.

When Kalke gets up from the water laughing, one little boy who watched the event arrives with twinkling eyes to praise the performance.

Then A team called Karvaturrit tries its luck with its Zoopollo 13 draw. The team doesn’t faith that the ship would carry very far. It is probably the smallest vessel in the competition, a cart only about two meters long and wide.

“Let’s bet on the show”, the ship’s captain Eero Jalamo says.

The group has developed a real dramatic arc for their performance. The sentient test animals get angry at the mad scientist, played by Jalamo. The animals drag the scientist aboard the ship and push him into the water.

The performance easily brings to mind the big hit song of the current summer.

“It was a bit like Ramses II’s Wild Beast! It should have been playing in the background,” commented Jalamo.