At the Maker Faire this weekend, John Collins (aka “the Paper Airplane Guy”) talked about his recent record-setting paper airplane flight that sailed 226 feet and 10 inches, smashing the previous record held by Stephen Kreiger by almost 20 feet.
John Collins: The Paper Airplane Guy Sets a World Record from Maker Faire on FORA.tv
While Collins designed the glider himself, he didn’t actually throw it. Instead, he hired Joe Ayoob, a former quarterback for the University of California-Berkeley, to make the toss. Since then, several “professional” paper airplane throwers have cried foul, including Kreiger who said that hiring a ringer wasn’t exactly in the spirit of the competition. You can watch the record-breaking video and judge for yourself below.
Did Ayoob’s years of throwing experience give him a leg-up on the competition? Collins dismissed the controversy at Maker Faire, saying that while having a good pilot is important, having a good design is essential. For his particular design, Collins mimicked the aerodynamics of a glider, while others in the competition designed their planes to fly like a dart.
