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Boeing Engineers Set New Distance Record With Paper Airplane

The engineers broke the Guinness World Record for flying a handmade paper airplane with an innovative design and simulations.

Two Boeing engineers now hold the Guinness World Record for flying a handmade paper airplane after it flew 290 feet. [Credit: Shutterstock]
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Key Takeaways:

  • Boeing engineers Dillon Ruble and Garrett Jensen set a new Guinness World Record for the longest flight of a handmade paper airplane.
  • Their unique paper airplane, named "Mach 5" and inspired by hypersonic vehicles, flew an impressive 290 feet in December 2022.
  • The record was achieved through hundreds of hours of design and practice, including simulations to determine an optimal 40-degree launch angle.
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Many aerospace engineers can trace their interest in designing and building airplanes back to paper airplanes they created as children, often for flying for distance contests. Sometimes, that passion never goes away.

Two Boeing engineers—Dillon Ruble and Garrett Jensen—who are second- and third-generation Boeing employees, now hold the Guinness World Record for flying a handmade paper airplane. The pair, who are based in St. Louis, set the new record in Crown Point, Indiana, in December of 2022.

Meg Godlewski

Meg Godlewski has been an aviation journalist for more than 24 years and a CFI for more than 20 years. If she is not flying or teaching aviation, she is writing about it. Meg is a founding member of the Pilot Proficiency Center at EAA AirVenture and excels at the application of simulation technology to flatten the learning curve. Follow Meg on Twitter @2Lewski.

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