THE quest to keep the largest Singapore flag aloft has, well, flagged. The 700 sq m flag, raised with much fanfare to the top of the 110m tall Tiger Sky Tower on Sentosa on Thursday, was up for just over five hours.
It was taken down by engineers that evening as it was moving in a rather erratic fashion, said Sky Tower general manager Patrick MacMahon.
It turns out that because of its size and the material from which it was made, it needs wind speeds at that height to be just right - in a narrow band between 5 and 8 metres per second. Too much wind would tear the polyester; too little, it would simply droop. The flag was taken down to save it from damage.
The plan was to fly it on National Day if wind conditions are favourable. But this has now been ruled out. It became clear during a meeting held on Friday among representatives from Sentosa Leisure Group, the Sky Tower and engineers that the logistics of raising the flag, even if good wind conditions came about, would be too much of a challenge.
Raising or taking it down takes engineers more than 15 minutes to scale the tower, during which time the observation tower has to be closed to visitors.
Mr MacMahon said: 'As an attraction on Sentosa, we are contractually bound to continue operations for visitors, some of whom have bought tickets beforehand.'
He added that it was suggested that the flag be kept flying, without disrupting commercial operations, by having personnel permanently stationed at the top. But there is not enough manpower to make that work.
However, he still called the exercise 'a great success', one which yielded the lesson that the challenge was technical, not operational.
'We are rethinking how we might reproduce the same impressive sight again next year... with a flag made of material light and strong enough to be carried on the wind, but more dependable in various wind and weather conditions.'
Members of the public may still take part in the competition to guess the exact size of the flag - from photos. For more information, visit the website www.skytower.com.sg/ndp2009 .
