Students in international paper plane competition
Excelling at an elementary school no-no earned two USU students an all-expenses-paid trip to Salzburg, Austria, last May thanks to Red Bull’s Paper Wings Worldwide Paper Plane Contest.
Greg Morris, a senior in aviation technology maintenance management, and and Randy Fischer, an aviation technology professional pilot major, were two of four students nationwide that earned a spot in the international competition.
“We qualified through a paper airplane flying contest that was held in the Fieldhouse,” Morris said. “[Red Bull] provided the paper, we couldn’t cut it or tape it, you just had to fold it on the spot and throw it.”
Morris said he showed up unprepared, but said a lot of people had practiced for the competition.
“They gave us time to practice and then we had to crumple up that plane and throw it away and refold a new plane for the actual competition,” Morris said. “I felt pretty good about it though, because in my practice throws, I had consistently been beating the previous record from the schools Red Bull had gone to before us.”
Fischer qualified in the Longest Airtime category and Morris qualified in Largest Distance with the longest throw in the world coming into the national competition at a distance of 161 feet. There was also an Aerobatics category that had no entrants.
The two students outflew more than 9,500 participants worldwide to make it to the final competition in Austria, where Morris said the participants were “treated like kings.”
In the international competition, Fischer placed fifth out of 45 competitors in the airtime division, and Morris placed 11th of 45 in the distance division.
In Austria, the competitors were given one day to practice in the large, glass hangar in the Salzburg Airport, where the competition was held, and got to meet other qualifying students from around the world.
“I learned a lot,” Morris said. “There were people there from Lebanon and different conflicting countries. It was cool to see how people from countries at war can get along in this Olympic-like setting.”
Fischer said the competition was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
“It was fun, a pretty trip, kinda random and I’m glad I went,” Morris said.
He said the purpose of the competition was to get recognition for Red Bull, because the students were trying to break the world records in those categories. He said he threw out his arm during the practice day, but the student from Croatia who ended up taking first did not beat his record from the USU competition.
The grand prize winners won a flight in a twin-seat fighter jet, while second and third received airline credits.