Paper Planes
5 paper plane Aerobatics videos that show creativity has no limits
Check out just a few of the national finalists who'll compete for the paper plane world championship in Aerobatics at the Red Bull Paper Wings World Final.
Red Bull Paper Wings is the official paper plane world championship, and with 2022 marking the first edition in three years, the pent-up creativity of the Aerobatics contenders is next-level.
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Unlike the other two competition categories – distance and airtime – the aerobatics category is all about imagination and innovation. In a fresh aerobatics format this year, pilots entered by submitting a short video on TikTok, and local judges considered a full package of criteria – flight performance, creativity of the overall performance and video (including layout and design), and social media engagement – to determine the national finalists across six continents.
From video effects to dance and even humour, the ingenious pilots drew on a dazzling array of creative strengths to earn their ticket to May's World Final at Hangar-7 in Salzburg, Austria. Just a small sampling of entries from the finalists who've been announced so far shows the wide range of their creative skills.
Hangar-7 moves its collection to make a stunning stage for the paper planes
© Joerg Mitter/Red Bull Content Pool
Creativity based on types of paper planes
Aerobatics is a freeform category, where pilots aren't restricted to the single piece of A4 paper that’s used to level the playing field in the Distance and Airtime categories. Pakistan’s Ovais Sohail packs his video with an eye-popping variety of aerobatic paper planes that twirl, boomerang, dart, cascade and even flap their wings like a bat.
Creativity based on engineering
Filming on a basketball court, Kyle Boyer from the USA also shows off multiple paper plane models – a total of three, which he designed himself. He puts an emphasis on engineering by including graphics that show aerobatic functionality and close-up sketches. And he keeps it fun with a ‘swoosh!’ graphic when he makes a basket with a plane designed for accuracy.
Creativity based on dance
Many entries used dance as part of their presentation, from choreography that's representative of local regions, to popular street dance styles. Veve Hjorth from Denmark serves up classic jazz stylings, including a fan kick and an impressive quadruple pirouette, while Jakub Adam from Slovakia gets funky with acrobatic moves and dizzying spins of his own.
Creativity based on locations, camera work and visual effects
What does the world look like from the perspective of a paper plane? Creating the plane’s POV was a tactic used by numerous pilots around the world. Sri Lanka’s ManiYa developed that further with a carefully crafted video that takes viewers on a flight through spectacular settings, both real and artificial, and concludes with a visual joke, complete with a sound effect.
Now, with the World Final approaching on May 13–14, all the Aerobatics finalists face their biggest challenge yet: delivering a live performance that will wow judges Dario Costa, Anna Gasser and Maja Kuczyńska to capture the crown.