A giant paper aeroplane has been released into the skies in the US. The 45ft model with a 24ft wingspan was towed 4,000ft into the sky by a helicopter before being released. It flew through the sky, reaching speeds of up to 90 miles per hour for six seconds before landing again near the Pima Air and Space Museum in Tucson.
According to Metro, the plane was named the Arturo Desert Eagle after 12-year-old Tucson school kid Arturo Valdenegro, who won a local newspaper paper plane competition that gave him the opportunity to join the team responsible for building the 363kg plane.
The Pima Air and Space Museum staff have claimed that the Arturo Desert Eagle could be the world’s largest paper plane.
After the flight, the museum’s director Yvonne Morris said: “The arresting visual of the paper airplane in flight rekindled the childhood creativity in all of us.” She also said that the project was “part of our larger effort to inspire America’s youth and spark a passion for aviation and engineering in the next generation”. –WN