E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSS
Joshua Lott / Reuters
Workers prepare to launch a 45-foot paper airplane from the Pima Air and Space Museum over the desert in Eloy, Ariz. on March 21.
Joshua Lott / Reuters
A 45-foot paper airplane from the Pima Air and Space Museum is launched from a helicopter in Eloy, Ariz. on March 21.
A 45-foot paper airplane with a 24-foot wingspan was launched yesterday outside of Tucson by the Pima Air & Space Museum.
Aeronautical engineers designed the plane, inspired by 12-year-old Tucson resident Arturo Valdenegro, whose paper airplane flew the farthest when he competed against hundreds of children in a regional paper airplane distance contest held at the museum in January.
As winner of the contest, Valdenegro got to meet with the engineers who oversaw the design and build of the 800-pound paper airplane, which sailed at an altitude of 2,703 feet and speed of 98 miles per hour.
--Msnbc.com wire services contributed to this post
Related links:
Arturo's Desert Eagle sails over the Arizona desert on March 21.
Leave a Comment:
WTF? the video stops right when it's released??
It was a teaser ad for RED BULL, just like the guy who parachuted from 71,000 feet.
Lame.
WEAK!! Without really showing the flight of the plane, this article is a big waste of my time.
I wonder how many trees were killed for this lame ass stunt. This was nothing but a monumental waste of resources, from the paper to make the plane to the fuel for the helicopter to the time spent.
Was just about to mention the trees.
agree, seriously what a complete waste of time and energy. I feel grateful knowing that society benefited greatly with this asinine exhibition.
Signed
Guinness book of world records
JS in SD = Buzz Killington
A couple flaming arrows would have made this a lot more fun!
Maybe Iran shot it down...
...Of all the things to put in the news, and things that could be engineered to improve life... You guys build a paper airplane? 800 pounds of paper... -_- LMFAO
I think that is so cool, but, you are right the poor kid built his paper plane, won the contest, aeronautical engineers built it and they stopped when they let it go. I know, or hope that the kid got to see the rest of that video, but what about us. "There it goes" doesn't do it for me.
He was probably there to see it in person.
You would think some dumb bunny would have rigged a cellphone or anything with a videocamera, in it, to the topside of that 800-pound paper plane: to give us the "rest of the video", from a point resembling the "cockpit" of the plane. (Of course, big paper planes don't have a cockpit, but that groove down the middle would be a perfect spot for a cam).
gee...that wasn't exciting....
A person could go from "one dull moment to the next dull moment" by running on up to Black Rock City, NV (which only exists for a week or two, every year, to "sponsor" the BURNING MAN FESTIVAL).
Now THERE'S a complete waste of breath, time, money, and everything you can cram into a backpack.
r u spamming me or talking to me lol
What was that "thing" that fell at the end of the video? A jacket? How far did it fly. Did it crashland or did it gently touch down? Was the kid in it. ala balloon boy? What happens to it now? Was it scrapped into notebooks? How about some hard hitting reporting on this on.
Come on now did you also not "read" the title of the film?
AND that "thing" was part of the towing release mechanism.
Hard hitting comprehension is also needed in many newsvine posts.
This was a colossal waste of time, money and fuel. Moreover, what's the point? Really? f you have time and MONEY to waste on this you're not paying enough tax and part of the 1%. While I and the rest of the middle-class are being taxed into oblivion.
Another reason we need a revolution and to bring back the guillotine ... "off with their heads and burn their paper airplanes!"
I guess engineers should just give up on testing a new design of plane because it's not free, DID YOU NOTICE THE RED BULL LOGO ON THE RUNWAY?? Who do you think paid for this? This was more of an ad than news.
Well then...
We should TAX Red-Bull if they got money to piss away on this bovine scat.
And if they're going to pass off ADs as news, then they better expect my ire.
Lord Foxdrake, this took place in Arizona - the land of the dimwitted. This is where a local sheriff, Joe Arpaio, has taken it upon himself to "investigate" Obama's birth certificate months after the birther controversy was put to rest. This is where the legislature wants to require those who are unemployed and receiving unemployment benefits to take drug tests (at their expense).
@Gumps
Oh. Well that explains it. My mistake.
Retarded children do love paper planes.
YAH! Next we'll do fireworks, ice cream and drooling.
Just to clear up the fog created by the "1%" rhetoric ........... The highest 1% tax brackets (>$343,000 income) account for over 36% of all tax revenue collected. The higher 25% brackets (>$66,000 income) account for over 87% of all tax revenue collected. That leaves the remaining 75% of tax paying citizens accounting for less than 13% of tax revenue, 45% of that group pay zero taxes after the "tax cut for rich" of the Bush administration.
There has not been the middle-class tax base every country needs for a healthy economy since clinton announced his "new economy" and the start of the collapse of his paper fantasy in 1998. The days of a healthy middle-class are over a decade gone, it will take generations for anything to improve ........ assuming of course the trend towards the nanny state can be reversed and jobs in a constructive occupations (more McServers and Wal-Mart greeters is not going to do it) can be found again. Manufacturing made the middle-class possible, built the nation, been the strength of the nation since the revolution of independence. The question is why politicians (in particular clinton) feel it is more important to protect the chinese middle-class than the citizens of the Republic.
"Just to clear up the fog created by the "1%" rhetoric..."
Yea, if you're in the 1% ... off with your head! That'll clear it up fine.
Lord Foxdrake, I wouldn’t be so harsh on the 1%. There is a simpler solution. Let’s ask the Traitors against the American
People –The Republican Party—to let their constituency the 1% pay the same tax
rate/percentage as the middle class. It
is amazing how dried up the brains of most of the American People have
become. They buy into the dumbest things
like the 1% pay most of the tax revenue.
Therefore they carry the biggest burden.
If you make train loads of money you should pay the same tax rate/percentage
as the middle class for example. Dumb
and Dumber of America are not getting the simple math. For example the Average Joe maybe a plumber
and used to work hard pays $10 to go and see a movie. But the 1% pay only $9 because they pay 10%
less on taxes. Simply, because they are
taxed (percentage wise) less than everyone else, this simple math is too much
for America. If the problem is who is
contributing the most to the tax revenue for the 1%, then I suggest let the
Average Joe earn more money so they can pay more taxes. Then the 1% would not be put in such a harsh
position of contributing the Lion’s share of the revenue. I know it was hard in the 60th and
70th for the 1% because they only made 33 times as much as the
average factory worker. And today it is
even harder to make due with333 times as much because private jets and golden
faucet handles cost so much these days.
Very cool.
Yes, Foxdrake, it was a horrible waste of time and treasure stimulating creativity and interest of aeronautical engineering in the minds of potential young pioneers in the aerospace field. We shouldn't do anything to promote the sciences--even for a minimal cost--and instead let the U.S. slip even further down the pecking order of technologically advanced nations until we're nothing but beer-swilling, butt-scratching, reality-TV watching blobs.
"pecking order of technologically advanced nations"
We will led the world in PAPER AIRPLANE technology!
That's stupid...
...but you're right cancel the Space Program and Mission to Mars ... but build giant paper airplanes to motivate the kiddies...
Well then, the kiddies must be pretty stupid now a days.
Personally, I think they could careless if it's not on Xbox.
well foxdrake (you are no LORD OF MINE), Perhaps they start with this and get into the more advanced as they grow up until they make a new prototype of a plane/shuttle/other space vehicle. Ever thought of that? Interest in a field can start anywhere. I got into electronics and tech because of pinball machines and all the mechanisms
"Perhaps they start with this and get into the more advanced"
There is nothing more advanced. NASA is dead and this is stupid.
Foxdrake is right. We should have made those 800 pounds of paper into a laser cannon.
OK, I want to see the "landing"!
Huh? It completed a perfect 3 point landing after test firing the attached laser cannons.
Dummy, it ended up a giant paper ball.
As a bonus, it landed on top of a border crosser, pinning him to the ground until authorities arrived.
Money was spent on this? WTF?
What a colossal waste of money that could well be used toward the miserable condition the world is in!
God knows how much the world desperately needs those 800 pounds of recyclable paper.
Haha. Thats WAS the balloon boy. Heeees baaaack.
I really wish people would stop wasting money on things like this and spend it on me instead.
I second that, except on me not you ... obviously.
I think you just summed up every one of the whiny comments
I third this comment, except for me, and not the two of you.
I'd like to have seen it crash and burn. Then it would have been worth the time and trouble.
From the Pima website: "Pima Air & Space Museum, where history takes flight, is one of the largest air and space museums in the world, and the largest non-government funded aviation museum."
I have no idea how much it cost to build and launch this thing, but it was pretty cool and I assume it was done using private money. I noticed that there is a $15.50 admission fee to the museum.
I do wish the video had shown more of its flight, however. Pima says that more footage will be released when it's collected.
You would think they something better to do with their high priced education other than making paper airplanes.
I dunno...people probably said the same thing when Ben Franklin flew his kite.
I agree with bluegrass guitar - sometime you just have to try something out of the ordinary - at least they put more thought into that paper airplane than those Red and Blue Idiots on Capitol hill did with both the "contract for America" and the "health care reform act"
and the Pima Air Museum is a great place to visit: worth every penny of the 16 bucks it costs to get in.
that is cool. wish they'd show more of it. fun!
Wow Foxdrake, So did you never build a single paper airplane as a kid? If you did, you have no room to bitch about wasting anything. Personally, I think it's a great thing to do. These types of activities and competitions drive other kids into the sciences. This will only help grow young minds and help our future.
well, I think it is kewl!, I have always wondered how big we can scale one up and have it still fly,, now we know,,, strike another one! off the "list"...although,,, towed may be more accurate,,, not many kids have a helo[even a toy one?] to launch with,,still,, it did fly and not bad either,..hmmm... paper airliners??[take note air Canada!],..paper war birds??. now that is "stealth",no??..well,, still interesting,, it was also interesting to see that toy plane found in an egyptian tomb, 3000 years old!,from the looks of it?? that also will fly,,,did they also have papyrus planes/birds??.they did seem to understand the "delta" shape,which, while efficient at certain levels?? turns into a "brick" if it drops speed,,,still,, simple shapes travel through!! time,, we dont know,, and that is also interesting,,, questions?? what kind of paper??. how was it reinforced??[folds??] and why so heavy??,..it is all about shape, and weight acting in concert,,,no?.. as for opening kids minds to the possible??. this is a very fine example,"delightfull task, to teach the young idea how to shoot"[unknown?]...indeed!..[btw, no we aint talking about weapons, ha ha]..
Thanks 'real rob lawson'! I read the rest of the negatives wondering where the imagination and excitement was. I was one of those who wondered how big one could scale up a kite and found out! One eight feet long would lift a nine year old kid off the ground and scare the heck out of him..(It was really only trying to lift me, and I chickened out and dropped the cord quickly...no "ballon boy" I!)
But the very notion of "seeing what she'll do!" is a good one and has kept industry at work and the young dreaming.
May we never all become as blase and narrow minded as those who write here complaining about wasted time and resources when their imaginations cannot see beyond their own pitiful limits. And if Red Bull participates, good on 'em.
Those who can, do, those who can't, learn about it and teach, and too many who sit at the back and do nothing except make wise cracks and try to inflate themselves by dragging down others.
The real, "Lame Stream".
Well from the end of the video it appears it pointed towards the ground. I can only guess it did a noses dive into the ground. That's why the video stopped. Making a 800 pound paper airplane=Nose dive into the Gound=Waist of time and money.
I remember they did almost the same thing in an Archie comic book in the late 60's
I wanted to see it land. lol That was a short video.
now my boss would say: you got way too much time on your hand! lol
The colossal waste of time was not in the making or flying of this paper airplane it is the sum total of minutes (or hours) you all wasted (just like me) writing posts for Newsvine.
It is an interesting experiment (science) that no one else ever thought of, perhaps that is why the tone of the posts are what they are.
At least we still lead the world in one thing, the physics of paper airplane construction and flying, maybe some day we might get one into space, at least we would not be reliant on Russia to put our people up there. Just make certain the paper is fire retardant for the re-entry!