Two USU engineering students earn their wings … No Bull!
Two Utah State University engineering students earned wings in May after qualifying to compete in Red Bull’s Paper Wings Worldwide Paper Plane Contest in Salzburg, Austria.
Randy Fischer, an aviation technology professional pilot major, and Greg Morris, an aviation technology management major, both earned an all-expenses-paid trip by Red Bull to compete in the contest. Fischer and Morris were two out of four students in the United States who earned a spot in the competition.
Red Bull sponsored paper airplane contests at various universities throughout the United States, and both Fischer and Morris earned the trips by attending a contest on the USU campus during spring semester. Fischer qualified to compete for the longest airtime, and Morris qualified to compete in the largest distance competition.
In Austria, Fischer ended up placing fifth out of 45 in the longest airtime competition, and Morris placed 11th out of 45 in the longest distance competition. Using an internationally sized A4 paper, Fischer and Morris had to fold their airplanes just before the competition using nothing but their hands.
Fischer’s interest in aviation began when he was a young boy and he looks forward to graduating from USU and becoming a professional pilot. He said he was excited when he qualified for the competition.
“My plane did not fly as well as I would have liked,” said Fischer. “I wanted to throw the plane as hard as I could, when I should have been focusing on what I knew would give me consistent and successful results. Consistency counts when it comes to competition.”
While in Austria, Fischer and Morris had one day to practice flying their paper airplanes before the competition and also had the chance to meet other students from around the world.
“It was awesome to see so many different countries all joined together,” said Morris. “All the competitors from every country were cheering on each other. It felt like a mini Olympics.”
Morris threw his arm out the day before competition while practicing and realized this would affect his chances of taking first place.
“When I went to the competition, I had the record for the longest distance in the qualifiers with 49 meters,” said Morris. “It does give me comfort that no one was able to beat my distance as the winning throw was only 47 meters.”
The event was held in Hangar 7 at the Salzburg Airport, home to Red Bull’s Flying Bulls aircraft team.
“That hangar was a fantasy land and Red Bull treated every competitor very well,” said Morris. “We got to go inside a 1958 DC-6 aircraft. It is probably the only one in the world in such pristine condition.”
Fischer and Morris also enjoyed some sightseeing while in Austria and visited Mozart’s birth place, the Mirabell-Garden where “Sound of Music” was filmed and the Dom zu Salzburg Cathedral.
Fischer said that going to Austria to compete was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
“In life, you have to do the little things if you want to get ahead,” said Fischer. “This was a great competition that inspired learning. I can’t wait to see what opportunities come my way in the future.”
For more information on Red Bull’s Paper Wings Worldwide Paper Airplane Contest, visit http://www.redbullpaperwings.com/. For more information on USU’s engineering and technology education program, visit http://www.engineering.usu.edu/ete/.