TOKYO — In the world of competitive paper airplane throwing, a 20-second flight is exceptional, 25 is world- class. Thirty is the stuff dreams are made of.
Only one man — Japanese paper airplane virtuoso Takuo Toda — has ever come close to breaking the 30-second barrier. On Sunday, he set a world record for a hand- launched plane made with only paper, but fell short of the 30-second mark, settling for a 26.1-second flight. That was still the best ever recorded for a paper-only craft. His 27.9-second record was set with a plane that had tape on it.
Toda, an engineer, is the head of the Japan Origami Airplane Association. In keeping with traditional rules of the ancient Japanese art of origami, he creates his craft by folding just one sheet of paper, which he does not cut or paste.
Toda said that the secret is to throw a paper airplane upward — not straight — so that it has time to gain altitude and slowly circle to the ground. He said his next goal was to launch a paper airplane from space.
