Giant paper plane flies 10 seconds over Arizona desert

It's a bird! It's a plane! No, it's a giant paper plane! The giant paper airplane, all 45 feet and 800 pounds of it, flew for a little over 10 seconds above a desert in Arizona before crashing, PC Magazine reported. Dubbed "Arturo's Desert Eagle," the paper plane was named after Arturo Valdenegro of Tucson, Arizona, 12, who won a contest the Pima Air & Space Museum's Giant Paper Airplane Project. The project, which led to the building of the plane from dead tree pulp, aimed to entice youths to have an interest in aviation. While the plane was based on Valdenegro's design, the actual plane was designed by aviation engineer Art Thompson, who was part of the team that engineered and constructed the B-2 stealth bomber for the U.S Air Force. Before its flight, the plane was attached to a chain and lifted by a Sikorsky helicopter to a height of 2,703 feet before it was released. After release, the plane glided for about 10 seconds at nearly 3,000 feet in the air before tail stress caused it to plummet back to the ground. A separate report in the Los Angeles Times said the design team was hoping to get the giant paper airplane up to 4,000 or 5,000 feet before releasing it. But wind conditions forced the helicopter pilot to set it free at 2,703 feet. “It didn’t fare too well as an end game. It really is a crumbled mess,” Tim Vimmerstedt, a spokesperson for the Pima Air & Space Museum told The Times. The plane was constructed of layers of falcon board, which Vimmerstedt described as a type of corrugated cardboard, similar to a pizza box. - AMD, GMA News