Most people have made a paper airplane at some point in their life, often to the dismay of their teachers. What started as a fun, childhood exercise of folding paper airplanes is now taking Jamal Jamali on a real flight across the world.
A chance decision is sending Jamali, a PhD student in Mechanical and Materials Engineering at The University of Western Ontario, to Austria in May to compete in the Red Bull Worldwide Paper Wings competition. This is the second time the competition has been held.
Jamal Jamali
A qualifying competition was held in February at Western’s Thompson Arena sprint track. Participants could compete in three categories: longest distance, longest airtime and aerobatics. After seeing a poster about the event hanging in the Spencer Engineering Building, Jamali thought he would go as a spectator, never considering entering the competition himself.
“Making paper planes … is very normal for kids four or five years old, just for fun,” he says.
But a few convincing pitches later and Jamali was in line with the other contestants. “After an hour, I got No. 1 in London in aerobatic flight.”
The win qualified him for the Red Bull Wings national final, held March 14 at L.B. Pearson International Airport – MX Aerospace Services.
With more than a few minutes to prepare for this competition, Jamali honed his folding skills, testing multiple designs for the perfect aerobatic flight performance.
In the aerobatic category, contestants are judged on the construction of the paper plane, flight performance, and creativity of the plane, as well as the ‘pilot’s’ outfit and performance.
He used Western’s colours in his design, which resembled the face of a clown, and to entertain the audience, he performed a traditional Iranian dance.
This is when Jamali’s luck started to take off. Just like he had practiced, he launched the standard A4 paper into the air and “it bent slowly and smoothly right and left and landed.”
With a smile on his face, Jamali says “I got No. 1 in Canada. It’s that easy.”
It seems it has been ‘easy’ for him all along to win at a paper-folding contest he originally entered on a fluke, but Jamali credits his engineering background for helping him understand the mechanics of what makes paper fly.
It is important to keep most of the weight of the plane near the centre to maintain stability, keeping it from tipping too far forward or backwards, he says. Folding is also important for balance, as the best planes tend to have a symmetrical design. He also suggests making sure the plane has a reasonable ratio of paper mass to wing span.
No matter how good you think the design is, “you can’t get a good result without testing it,” he says.
The rule of the competition for the longest distance and airtime categories require that you work with what you’ve got. Contestants are not allowed to rip or cut the paper and only folds can be made to create the structure of the plane. In Jamali’s category – aerobatics – he is able to use whatever he wants to improve creativity, including different paper quality and size, adding supporting material.
The planes are not allowed to be remote controlled or used stored energy, such as a battery.
Jamali will be facing off with university students from 85 countries at the world competition, which will be held in Salzburg’s Hanger 7 May 1-2. Not to be caught off guard, he already has a stack of 500 sheets of paper to turn into a winning plane.
But, whether he has a clean sweep and is named the best in the world, Jamali chalks his paper fortune up to a “good experience.”
“I hope I can get a really good result in Austria. I will try my best,” he says.
For more information, visit www.redbullpaperwings.com.