Throwing championship flights and accident on Dutch National Championships paper planes: ‘He just turned out so well’ | Inland

Daan Crefcoeur went to Halfweg with high expectations and a bus full of fans. In his hometown of Groningen, he managed to float a paper airplane in the air for 4.75 seconds, qualifying for the Dutch Paper Airplane Throwing Championship. But now, halfway through the game, disaster strikes. There lies his perfected little plane, freshly folded, on an inaccessible ledge in the competition hall. And in a few minutes he should take office. But more on that later.

First about the competition in which he participates. The Red Bull Paper Wings can be won in two categories, participants from dozens of countries participate in the World Cup. One category is all about throwing as far as possible. With the other, in which Daan also participates, the intention is to let the plane float as long as possible. It’s not just a matter of luck, or as in Daan’s case, unhappiness. A wall, a head or a ledge can throw a spanner in the works, a happy loop can put the win within reach, but knowledge of aerodynamics is the basis for participants. For example, the flaps on the wings of a paper airplane have the same function as with a real one.

It is not without reason that students from technical universities are well represented, and physicist and science journalist Adriaan Ter Braack explains the perfect flight. He has three tips for those who want to get started. The first: be accurate on the first fold. “Put the dots right together.” Because if you start crooked, you end up with a crooked plane. Then gravity: it can be challenged by folding the tip of an airplane inwards. It then becomes lighter, allowing the aircraft to float longer. And finally: during the throw it is good to raise the tip of the plane a little, so that the thing does not fall directly to the ground.

During the Dutch Championships, every participant has two chances to use all that knowledge. After a first throw, the plane may be modified for a second round. And so Daan started to fold, after he certainly didn’t have a chance of reaching the final with his first pitch. But with one sweep, that second copy landed on that damned ledge. ,,It was just that good,’ Daan explains, while he heatedly and silently works on a new copy with trembling fingers. He has become a fan since he spontaneously participated in the preliminary round in his home city without practice, when he saw an announcement. With his background in the media (he’s also a vlogger) he’s an outcast in this competition, but the aerodynamics videos he’s watched since then and some practice hours in a gym make him want to, well, win.

That doesn’t happen for a long time. His plane lasts 3.73 seconds. The winner climbs onto the podium with a gliding flight of 7.34 seconds. Paper pilot Pekka Päivärinnen is cheering in orange overalls. Haje Smit wins in the longest distance category with 16.5 meters.

Both will not have a chance at the World Cup with those results, knows multiple former winner Mark Meijnema, who suddenly discovered during the preliminary rounds that he is no longer allowed to participate because of previous wins. He would prefer to defend his title with his planes, which Ter Braack describes as ‘darts’ and ‘cannon’. In 2019, such a copy of Meijnema shot 33.3 meters through the air. Now he stands a bit gritted along the track. But the fun can’t stay away from this match. With the words ‘Flying Dutchman’ on his shirt, he still steps on stage. And who knows, the winners of today will suddenly have the wind in their favor during the World Cup.