Using just a simple piece of paper, three students have won an all-expenses-paid trip to Austria on May 1st and 2nd, after emerging tops in the Red Bull Paper Wings National Finals.
The paper plane competition was held for the first time in Singapore on March 12th in Hall of Residence 3. The event gathered 45 finalists from Singapore Management University, National University of Singapore and NTU.
Participants competed in three different categories—the longest airtime, the longest distance and aerobatics.
The competition provided paper plane enthusiasts with a platform to showcase their skills.
“I’m a paper plane aficionado, and it’s my first time seeing a stage like this to display our skills,” said Vikram Bahl, 20, a student from the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering.
The event showcased various designs of paper planes, such as the addition of flaps and tails onto the simple pieces of paper, as well as different cuttings made on the planes.
Yet despite the presence of various designs, all three students who won the respective categories said that a lot of it had to do with luck.
“I think it was luck—you saw how my paper plane flew out of the boundaries and back,” said Desmond Sim, 23, a second-year student from the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, who won the longest airtime category. His paper plane flew beyond the rope boundaries at one point and was thought to be disqualified, but it managed to make a swerve back in time.
Despite loud music and Red Bull girls giving out free cans of the drink, the event only attracted a handful of spectators.
“I expected the response to be greater. Maybe the publicity wasn’t enough.”
“The hall is also hard to find for people not staying in Hall 3,” said a spectator Ng Yu Ming, 19, a first-year student from the School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences.
Yet according to Ms Ann Tay, the consumer collecting executive of Red Bull Singapore Pte Ltd, the event has been quite a success.
“We’re not really looking at spectator turnout rate. Turnout has been pretty good in terms of participation,” the 23-year-old said.
