World Record Paper Airplane Toss Set in California [Video]

How far can you throw an airplane? 20 feet? 50 feet? 226 feet and 10 inches? Former Cal quarterback Joe Ayoob started two seasons in the NCAA, played three seasons in the Arena Football League, and has thrown passes to NFL stars DeSean Jackson and Marshawn Lynch, but the best throw of his career came this week when he threw a paper airplane designed by John Collins 226 feet and 10 inches.

If the distance is verified it will be a new world record. NESN reports that a representative from the Guinness Book of World Records was on hand so Ayoob and Collins should find their way into the record books soon.

Ayoob said:

“We made all 10 [official] throws. The record came on the fourth throw. I probably made 50 throws on the day. My body is still sore.”

The previous record was set Stephen Kreiger in September 2003. Kreiger’s plane flew 207 feet.

ESPN reports that the paper airplane was designed by John Collins, a producer at KRON-TV. Collins has been obsessed with airplanes since childhood. He’s studied aviation and origami and has been in pursuit of the record for the last three years. Collins said he was happy with the record, but says that the plane could have gone further. Collins said:

“There’s way more potential with this design. I don’t know how far it can go. It might be capable of 300 feet. We still haven’t been in a space big enough to truly test it. … Now we’ve got the world record. If someone wants to drag us out to a great big venue and let us [try to improve on the record], we’d probably go for it.”

Collins said that he didn’t have the arm strength to try to break the record himself so he enlisted the help of Ayoob. Ayoob said:

“Some people might think, ‘What’s the big deal? It’s just a paper airplane. But it’s a world record. It took a lot of time for John, and it took a lot of time for me working with John to achieve this. … It’s very rewarding, and I’m very proud of this record… A lot of people could throw this plane and get some pretty crazy distance out of it,” Ayoob said. “But in order to achieve the distances we were trying to reach, it took a pretty precise throw, and it took a lot of strength. … There’s a lot of finesse involved, so it’s kind of blending power, balance and control while you’re throwing this fragile, little paper airplane.”

Here’s the video of Ayoob’s record breaking paper airplane toss.