Imagination aviation: Red Bull gathers the world’s best paper plane flyers

Red Bull has been giving athletes and regular people alike wiiings for quite some time. But did you know the brand also gives aviation enthusiasts Paper Wings and the chance to become the world’s top paper airplane pilot?

Red Bull Paper Wings, the world’s largest paper airplane contest, is a simple and intentional competition that requires no fuel or engines, just heightened innovation. With only a single piece of A4 paper, contestants must make their creation fly as long, as far, or as artistically as possible through the air to have a shot at being crowned the world champ.

Red Bull Paper Wings recognizes three disciplines of paper flight: Distance, Airtime, and Aerobatics. The Aerobatics division focuses on which paper wonder can perform the most brilliant aerobatic tricks, among other criteria. Pilots weren’t required to travel to compete in this division and instead showcased their mastery on TikTok. Contestants submitted their entries by using the hashtags: #redbullpaperwings, #USA, #contest, and by tagging @redbull.

Contestants were judged on the construction of the plane, the artistry of the plane’s performance, and the creativity of their flight performance video. Whoever received the most votes from the national judging panel will be riding their originality to the world final.

On the other hand, Distance and Airtime winners from their respective local qualifier events traveled to one of three U.S. cities for Nationals. To succeed in Distance, pilots had to craft a plane that traveled farther than their opponents. Airtime experts had to have elite aerodynamic understanding, those who advanced folded their paper planes in all the right places to achieve the longest flight time.

The tournament has taken off again in 2022 and seven Paper Wings Finalists have jetted off to Salzburg, Austria to compete for the World Championship Title on May 13th and 14th. The champions crowned for each category will not only be world-renowned but will also win an epic flight experience with the famous Flying Bulls, Red Bull’s first-class crew of aviation experts.

Let’s meet the flight contenders — first up, the Aerobatics winner:

Kyle Boyler

Meet Kyle Boyler, a graphic designer from Indianapolis, Indiana. Kyle’s been building paper airplanes for 18 years. With a website, Foldable Flight, offering templates on how to build the perfect paper airplanes, a published book, Foldable Flights Incredible Paper Airplanes, and a YouTube + TikTok presence hosting over 300,000 subscribers, this year’s Aerobatics winner could be considered a paper airplane prodigy.

Let’s keep this plane moving though, next up are our Distance and Airtime finalists.

On Wilbur Wright’s birthday (of the Wright Brothers), 42 paper flight enthusiasts gathered in Huntsville, Alabama, the Rocket City, and competed for a finalist spot. This is who soared in the Cotton State: