The World Paper Airplane Launching Championship is by no means a toy for elementary school children. More than 37 thousand students all over the world took part in its 634 qualifying rounds, and only 249 participants passed the strict selection. These representatives from 83 countries gathered in early May in Salzburg, Austria to identify champions in three categories. The sponsor of the event was also not childish at all, so the full name of this championship sounds like this - Red Bull Paper Wings 2012.
The World Paper Airplane Launcher Championship brings out the best constructors in three different categories. The planes of one of them must hold out in the air for as long as possible, in the other, only the flight range is important, and in the third, not meters and seconds are evaluated, but the beauty of acrobatic tricks that correctly folded paper is capable of.
Croatian Jovica Kozlica was considered the undisputed favorite in distance competitions - this is the only participant who was the first in two championships in a row. Such finals are held every three years, and their winners go to the next championship without preliminary selection. But this year, none of the previous champions have been able to defend their title, including the famous Croat among the masters of paper aircraft. His plane flew 44 m 13 cm, more than 6 meters before reaching the long-range aviation liner of the new champion, Czech Thomas Beck.
Lebanese Eli Chemali was able to build an airplane, which in the final flight stayed in the air for 10.68 seconds - this is the best result in the "Flight duration" category. And in the most subjective category - "Aerobatics" - the beauty of paper pirouettes was assessed by points and, as is often the case with such assessments, there was a conflict here - two participants received an absolutely equal number of points. The sponsors did not become greedy and awarded the title to both - Tomas Chodryr from Poland and American Ryan Nakarato.
The best Russian designers and testers of paper aircraft construction were identified in universities in 15 cities, and out of 45 participants in the Moscow final, only three went to Hangar-7 in Salzburg. Their results in the summary tables of the preliminary qualifying rounds were in the top ten, but alas, domestic paper aviation could not make it to the runway of the grand final.
