This wikipedia article states that there are about 100 human-powered aircraft in the world today.
Simply put, could one of those enter the Red Bull Flugtag? Seems to be a pretty easy victory to me, even though it violates the spirit of the competition (which, as far as I can tell, is to fall spectacularly into the water).
Here’s the application for the Red Bull Flugtag USA: PDF File.
Note the three criteria:
(1) Human Powered
(2) Less than 30 feet wide
(3) No more than 450 lbs
Judging Criteria:
(1) Distance
(2) Creativity
(3) Showmanship
So I’d say the answer is that a human-powered flying machine that works and in existence - assuming it is less than 30 feet wide and no more than 450 lbs would be admissible. But it probably wouldn’t get selected to compete - because there’s no way it could win on creativity and showmanship.
All the functional human-powered aircraft have giant wingspans. 98’ for the Gossamer Albatross, 111’ for the MIT Daedalus, etc. So I’m afraid they’d be out of the running.
A parachute is almost large enough to get eliminated!
The criteria seem intended to make it a farce, not a challenge.
Tris