Italian students set a record by building a seven-meter paper airplane

A team of students in Pisa, Italy, has entered the Guinness World Records by building the world's largest paper airplane. While making a paper airplane is a simple activity for many, this project stood out for its massive dimensions and complex construction.

Made only of paper sheets and a few liters of glue, the airplane is 7 meters long and has a wingspan of 20.04 meters. It weighs 28.49 kilograms, which is approximately 63 pounds.

Months of preparation to fly the plane

For the Guinness record to be officially recognized, the airplane had to not only be massive but also meet specific requirements. It had to be launched by a single person and travel a distance of at least 15 meters in the air.

This task proved to be much more complicated than expected. The team working on the "Icarus" project conducted tests for several months, taking into account the airplane's stability, durability, weight, and aerodynamic properties.

In the process of developing the appropriate design, a total of approximately 300 kilograms of paper and 60 kilograms of glue were used. The students chose a honeycomb-shaped structure to increase the airplane's strength without making it too heavy. This structure helped ensure the airplane's durability.

On June 25, at the BolognaFiere exhibition center in Bologna, one of the team members launched the giant paper airplane. The plane traveled a distance of 59 meters, or about 193.6 feet, setting a new world record.

The previous record was set in 2013

The previous record for paper airplanes had been held since 2013. At that time, a team from the Technical University of Braunschweig in Germany successfully flew a paper airplane that was 5 meters long, weighed 24 kilograms, and had a wingspan of 18 meters. It had traveled a distance of approximately 18 meters in the air.

The Italian students' new result was significantly higher than the previous record. In addition to increasing the dimensions of the airplane, they managed to ensure its stable flight in the air.

Interestingly, just a month before this event, a team of Chinese students had set a new record for the largest remote-controlled paper airplane. This shows that even airplanes made of simple paper can become major projects through engineering skill and careful calculations.