CARBONDALE - The New Style Flyers spent months building a makeshift airplane, and now they'll be jumping out of a real one.

The five Southern Illinois University Carbondale students on the team took home second place at Saturday's Red Bull Flugtag in Chicago, earning them a right to skydive with the Red Bull Air Force.

"We were thrilled," said team captain Scott Marquardt. "We'd never had so much attention in our lives. It just showed off all the work, and our aircraft flew and actually performed exactly how we wanted her to."

The Flugtag, which translates to "flying day" in German, featured 29 teams primarily from the Midwest flying makeshift aircraft down a ramp into Lake Michigan. The New Style Flyers' Chicago Cubs-themed vessel flew 75 feet, while the winning team's traveled 120 feet.

Marquardt's team was selected to open the show because of its Chicago theme, and the crowd really caught on, he said. From the unveiling of the Cubs logo on the aircraft wing to the blaring sound of unofficial Cubs' anthem, "Go Cubs Go!" the crowd kept cheering.

"One person told me when we were launching they could feel the ground shake," he said. "I don't know if that's true or not, but it sure felt good to hear it."

Team T-shirts were also sold in advance and at the event, and it added to the "feeling of being a celebrity for a day" to see crowds of people wearing the blue shirts in the crowd and on large television monitors, Marquardt said.

Other members of the New Style Flyers include Cody Perrey, Nick Raia, Daniel Welsh and Leah Reynolds. The team received special assistance from Charles Rodriguez and Don Bartlett.

adam.testa@thesouthern.com

351-5031