Guinness World Record holder demonstrates paper airplane flying

Eglin Air Force Base may have the McKinley Climatic Lab and all sorts of sophisticated testing laboratories, but none of them rivaled the flight action at the Crestview Community Center Tuesday evening. The airspace within the spacious facility was simultaneously filled with dozens of aircraft as participants in this month’s Family Library Time, presented by the Crestview Public Library, took inspiration from guest presenter Ken Blackburn.

The four-time Guinness World Record holder for paper airplane flying, and an aeronautics engineer at Eglin, has had a passion for designing and flying paper airplanes since childhood, he said. Growing up on a farm in North Carolina, Blackburn had plenty of space to launch model aircraft. He first tried balsa wood planes, “but the dog would eat them, or my sister would step on them,” Blackburn said.

Then he discovered the paper airplane. Friends taught him how to fold the basic dart plane, which he said was great for throwing at his sister, but not for remaining aloft for any significant amount of time.

“I found if I could fly a paper airplane really well, I would have an unlimited supply of paper airplanes,” Blackburn said. “There’s a lot of scrap paper available.”

He visited his local library to learn more about what makes aircraft fly, and applied the same principles to the paper airplanes he fashioned and flew in the pastures around the family farm.

 “I credit paper airplanes for giving me my start in aeronautics,” Blackburn said. “I think I was a deceptively normal kid. I always loved anything that would fly.”

By the age of 13, Blackburn had developed the basic design of what would eventually be the world-record-setting paper airplane.

The Family Library Time presentation, held across the street from the library at the community center to take advantage of the large indoor area, included a basic lesson on what makes things fly.

“Wings are critical to getting a paper airplane, or any flying vehicle, to fly better,” Blackburn said. “I will be the first to admit pointy wings look better, but square wings fly better.”

Then, to prove the point, the group of more than 70 attendees, most of them kids, moved to long tables set up at the rear of the room, where templates of Blackburn’s record-setting paper airplane were laid out. The engineer coached his audience through each step of folding their planes.

Then, as each aeronaut finished his or her plane, they eagerly scurried to the center of the hall and within minutes, the air was filled with planes swooping, soaring and, occasionally, nose diving onto the linoleum. Applying what they’d learned about aerodynamics, the junior engineers tweaked their folds, raising or lowering tail flaps, or adjusting the rudder a little, then flinging the plane into the air once again.

“That was pretty far!” exclaimed Kaiden Rainey, 5, as his airplane glided majestically across the room, landing gently in a fake palm plant.

“I hoped this would happen,” said Youth Librarian Heather Nitzel happily. “They’re having a great time — even the big kids,” as she observed a dad launch his plane at the same time as his son flew his own.

While the evening was clearly loads of fun, the audience also took home some valuable lessons, even if they didn’t realize it, and even if they don’t intend to pursue a career in aeronautics.

“The reason why I set the record was I worked really hard and I learned,” Blackburn told his audience. “No matter what you’re interested in, you can do better if you’re willing to work hard.”

Ken Blackburn’s records

Paper airplane champion Ken Blackburn holds the current Guinness Book of World Records title for the longest sustained paper airplane flight. The record was set in the Georgia Dome, as rules stipulate the plane must fly indoors to avoid taking advantage of a tail wind.

Blackburn broke the then-current world record of 15 seconds for the first time in 1983. He broke his own record several times, then was defeated in 1996 by a British flyer. Two years later he regained his title. Blackburn’s 1998 record remains in the 2010 Guinness Book of World Records, but, he said, it may have been broken by a Japanese flyer.

1983: 16.89 seconds

1987: 17.2 seconds

1994: 18.8 seconds

1996: 20.9 seconds (set by British flyer)

1998: 27.6 seconds

Next month’s Family Library Time will be a groovy, mod and hip blast back to the 1960s and ‘70s, complete with a trivia game show, disco dance lessons courtesy of Fred Astaire Dance Studio, and a costume contest for both young and old participants. For more information, call Youth Librarian Heather Nitzel at 682-4432.