CHENNAI: Noise. Chaos. Paper planes. A teacherless class resembled a “fish market”. But when a plane lands on the teacher’s feet, it is always crushed and the flyer is thrown out. This is a common scenario that comes to mind when you think of paper planes. But instead of being punished, what if you were to get rewarded? The participants at this paper plane championship relived their school days at SRM College.
A city and national-level qualifier for a global paper plane championship was held at SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Kattankulathur on Friday. The event, organised and sponsored by Red Bull, has been held since 2006. Arriving in India after three years, the event had 402 qualifiers from 60 countries, to create an impact larger than before.
The participants were provided with A4-sized paper to make the planes. They were allowed to fold the plane but not cut or paste anything. Aryan Vats topped the distance category in the Chennai qualifier flying a distance of 19.60 m and Gnanasambantham topped the airtime category flying for 4.60 seconds.
The selections were held on two levels — based on the longest distance and the highest airtime reached by the paper planes. Participants were given two chances for each level, and the person who topped the leaderboard was promoted to the national level selection process. The winners at the national level will be chosen under three categories — Longest Distance, Longest Airtime and Aerobatics. They will represent India in the world final in Austria at the iconic Hangar-7.
Amid academic pressures, a contest like this was just the break students hoped they’d get. Aakriti, a student from SRM, said, “This contest is fun-filled, and I liked it because I’ve never been to one like this before.”
Not letting his victory come in the way of his humility, Aryan, the winner, shared, “I could have done better. It was lack of preparation and I was not aware of what the event was about. I tried because the contest was fun.”