Arts & Entertainment

Newton's Flugtag Team: An Aerial Homage to 90s Cartoons

Using a design from "Ed, Edd n Eddy," Eugene Zeleny, Gary Pivovarov, Dave Clearly, Lee Panecki and Matt Zucosky are headed to the Charles.

NEWTON, MA – When building a vehicle for air travel, taking your design cues from a show on Cartoon Network may not seem like the best approach.

But it's the approach "90's Nostalgia" is taking for this year's Red Bull Flugtag, as the team from Newton hopes to soar above the Charles River in an aircraft from the 90s cartoon "Ed, Edd n Eddy."

The event is a gathering of DIY aeronautical engineers, who launch their homemade planes into the sky and attempt to remain airborne for as long as possible before crash landing into the water. The Flugtag is coming to Boston for the first time on August 20.

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Eugene Zeleny, who will be piloting "90's Nostalgia" on its maiden voyage, said the idea came from his and his teammates' desire to pay homage to a show from their childhood.

After bouncing around ideas like Courage the Cowardly Dog, Saved by the Bell, Pokémon, Samurai Jack and Rugrats, they landed on Ed, Edd n Eddy.

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"We were interested in doing something we hadn't really seen before, and we decided to take a design that exists in Ed, Edd n Eddy," Zeleny said. "We're going to try to recreate it with as much aesthetic as the show had."

Zeleny and his teammates, Gary Pivovarov, Dave Clearly, Lee Panecki and Matt Zucosky are all engineers, which Zeleny hopes gives them the edge to keep their plane in the air.

"We actually have a realistic chance of fulfilling this design," Zeleny said.

Though Red Bull has strict regulations in place to ensure participants' safety - for example, pilots are required to wear a life jacket, their costumes must not interfere with the operation of the plane and the team can only jump into the water once the plane is in the water and the pilot has gotten out - there is still an element of risk involved.

"My dad looked at me and said, 'Why?'" Zeleny said. "He basically asks me that whenever I do anything eccentric like this."

A hallmark of the flugtag is the personality of its participants, and Zeleny said the team plans to dress like the characters from Ed, Edd n Eddy and don giant heads with each character's likeness.

Come out and show your support for "90's Nostalgia" August 20 on the Charles River.

Photos submitted by "90's Nostalgia"

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