
When I read the headline I just knew the article would involve at least one photo of people holding beer.
Congratulations.
Fans of our Paper Aircraft Released Into Space (PARIS) mission will doubtless want to join us in raising a glass today to our Vulture 1 aircraft – now officially the holder of the record for the highest launch of a paper plane in the history of aviation. Our PARIS Guinness World Records certificate Yes indeed, PARIS has been …
Not that Guinness is beer, it's stout, but yes it is related. Legend has it that years back people would argue in pubs about the "highest mountain" or "heaviest tumour" or other miscellanea. In the days before the internet-onna-phone and Wikipedia to mislead all the brewing giant decided to publish a book for landlords full of this sort of stuff.
That book became the Guinness Book of Records.
Norris and Ross McWhirter RIP.
PS - good to see that in the photo you are both clearly not bowing to sponsor's pressure in drinking their product.
Ill have 2 Chimay Beers to your outstanding work. By the way i noticed a credit card commercial here in the states that show two guys pay for the part of their craft . Which in the final senes you see video footage from the craft as hit gets to about 50 miles up. Then the next gents find the craft stuck in a tree. It looked like Vulture 1...I said copycats or big fans of El Reg.
Sorry to be a stuffed shirt about this, but all along I've been of the opinion that PARIS, wonderful as it is and an accomplishment to be proud of, is a model airplane but not, IMHO, a 'paper airplane'. Paper airplanes are folded out of one, possibly two, pieces of paper - not constructed out of numerous frames and such like a real airplane. And glue is right out. A paperclip or two for balance, and tape in a few judiciously selected spots would be OK. And I would be generous enough to allow some extra tape to hold the electronics package in place.
Back in my misspent youth, my brother and I built a real paper airplane about six feet long, made in the traditional way, and flew it off the top of a water tower. So it's certainly possible to build a real paper airplane in the size necessary to carry camera and transmitter etc. It would require some engineering studies, such as how to use folds to provide stiffness and dynamically stable flight.
So, congrats, but I think there is still room for a record-breaking attempt with a real origami-style paper airplane. And I hope you folks take up this challenge for your next try! :D