The hidden side of politics

LIVE: Watch This Man Try to Break the World Record for Paper Airplane Flight

Reported by WIRED:

Right now, an attempt to make history takes flight: John Collins, otherwise known as The Paper Airplane Guy, will try to fly a paper airplane further than any paper airplane has flown before.

Collins set the standing world record for paper airplane flight—226 feet and 10 inches—in February of 2012. But now, Collins has even higher hopes. “In terms of breaking the record, our worst practice day of that year was world record day,” he says. “We’d routinely thrown beyond 230 feet, and sometimes beyond 240 feet. Adding a couple of meters to the record is likely if conditions are good.”

With a moniker like The Paper Airplane Guy, it should come as no surprise that Collins takes the business of paper airplanes seriously. Besides the world record, his vigorous studies of aerodynamics and origami have led to the creation of a “boomerang” paper airplane that flies back to him and a “bat plane” that can flap its wings in mid air by itself. Earlier this year, Collins showed WIRED exactly how he made the world-record breaking plane.

In the days leading up to the attempt, Collins will fold dozens of paper airplanes while his “arm”—former arena football quarterback Joe Ayoob—will perform hours of practice. Collins says it takes about 25 minutes to make a competition-ready plane, and he plans to show up with no less than 24 on the day of the attempt. That might mean very little sleep, because when it comes to these perfected planes John says the fresher they are, the better. John and Joe will have 10 attempts to break the current world record from the sprawling Pomeroy Sports Centre in Fort St. John, British Columbia.

WIRED is livestreaming the event now above, and on our Facebook and YouTube pages. In you just can’t get enough, learn how to fold five high-flying stunt paper airplanes like a pro.

Source:WIRED

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