Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Fold a world record-setting paper airplane

Many years ago I was a journalist with what was then known as the BCNZ, the state corporation that controlled virtually all radio and TV stations, apart from Radio Hauraki and a couple of other new upstarts that were easing apart the bureaucratic log-jam. The Christchurch newsroom was on the top floor of the Manchester Unity building on the corner of Manchester and Worcester Streets, and on lazy, hot Sunday afternoons we had way too much time on our hands - so we made paper airplanes. One of my co-workers had developed a model that would just about hover, and we spent many fun hours pushing these out the windows to see how far they would go. With a decent warm updraft, on at least one occasion we saw the airplane top nearby Christchurch Cathedral. I am therefore delighted to see that a very similar version to Derek's design has appeared online, and there's even a video to show you how to fold it. (Note: the video at Lifehacker does not play properly, so use this link.) Now, if they can develop a radio-controlled model.......

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