© Getty Images/iStockphoto/Thinkstock / Getty Images/iStockphoto/Thinkstock
3 US aircraft engineers have broken the world record for the farthest flight of a paper airplane. With 88 meters flew away after months of work Dillon Ruble, Garrett Jensen and Nathaniel Erickson constructed paper planes like no other before.
They surpassed the previous record flight of a paper airplane 11 Meter. It was held by South Korean hobbyists who were able to fly their paper airplane 77 meters in April last year.
Prototype hypersonic aircraft
Hypersonic aircraft served as a model for the hobbyists employed at Boeing, in particular the one developed by NASA and Boeing X-43A. It reaches five times the speed of sound. The record plane was appropriately named “Mach 5”, CNN reported on Friday.
The hobbyists set the focus speed and reduced Luftwiderstand. Around the ideal angle (40 Grad) for the throw of the paper airplane, numerous simulations were carried out and slow-motion videos of earlier attempts were analyzed. The tests proved to be the ideal paper format A4. Overall, the hobbyists stuck according to their own statements 500 hours in the development of their record-breaking paper airplane.
Prototype of the record plane
© Boeing
6 seconds in the air
In total, the paper airplane was in the air for 6 seconds during its record flight. The world record for the longest flight of a paper airplane is currently at 29.2 seconds. Breaking that would require different design goals, Basler Ruble is quoted as saying by CNN. Among other things, the wingspan would have to be increased and the aspect ratio reduced, according to the engineer.
