Approaching Christmas 2025, Red Bull have carried out a new stunt of towing a glider into the air with nine professional cyclists. It seems reminiscent of Santa’s sleigh…

From a technical perspective, it is not surprising that flight is achieved, the high aerodynamic efficiency of a modern glider and the combine ~5200 watts being produced by the riders and being able to accelerate the aircraft to 45 km/h to exceed its minimum takeoff velocity. As seen in the video, they carried out testing in Austria which revealed issues with the tethering of the gangline and a revised set up for the feat in Spain.

As reiterated in the comments section, is that human-powered flight is not a new thing and that feats such as flying across the English Channel (35 km) in 1979 was achieved by the Gossamer Albatross and that in 1982 the MIT Daedalus flew 115 km across the Aegean Sea following the Greek myth of Daedalus’ escape from Crete using man-made wings.

This human powered history I am starting to cover, especially the New Zealand connection: Human-powered Aircraft Article

Though I am confident what Red Bull achieved (pulling a plane to lift-off) is a first as there are not many people who have access to a glider and a team of professional cyclist!