World Record Paper Airplanes
Learn about the amazing Guinness World Records for paper airplane folding and throwing.
Many different achievements related to paper airplanes are recognized and tracked by Guinness World Records. If you want to hold a paper airplane world records, you can try for distance, time aloft, largest, or highest launch. You can also make the longest chain of paper airplanes, or launch the most paper planes simultaneously. Or, if you really want to impress your friends, you can throw the most paper airplanes into a watermelon in one minute!
Read on for a summary of the greatest achievements in paper airplane engineering.
Furthest Flight World Record
The Guinness World Record for the longest distance flown indoors by a paper airplane is 98.43 meters (323 ft). This was achieved on Dec 28, 2025 in Shanghai China by Liu Liwen with the support of several classmates. These six students studied aerodynamics and spent more than six training and testing their designs. Liewen said that the record is not just a result of strength, but the combined result of paper material, folding structure, aerodynamics and throwing skills.
Prior to this, the record was 88.318 meters (290 ft). This was achieved on Dec 2, 2022 in Indiana USA by Dillon Ruble, Nathan Erickson and Garrett Jensen. We interviewed this team to get more details about this amazing achievement, so if you want how they spent 400 hours running computer simulations, check out that interview.
| Historical Records | ||
|---|---|---|
| Name | Date | Record |
| Liu Liwen + Team | Dec 2025 | 98.43 m |
| Ruble, Erickson, Jensen | Dec 2022 | 88.32 m |
| Kim, Shin, Chee | Apr 2022 | 77.13 m |
| Joe Ayoob | Feb 2012 | 69.14 m |
| Stephen Kreiger | Sep 2003 | 63.19 m |
| Tony Felch | May 1985 | 58.82 m |
If you are thinking about attempting this record yourself, here are some rules to keep in mind. The maximum size paper allowed is A4 and the maximum paper density is 100g/m2. The paper airplane must be folded without any glue, tears or cuts. A small piece of 25mm x 30mm clear tape is allowed. The throw must be done indoors and behind a starting line. If your foot crosses the line, it will be disqualified. Measurement is made from the line to the first place where the airplane touches the ground.
Farthest flying paper airplane Guinness World Records
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Dillon Ruble (__fundamentals__) Instagram
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Longest Flight World Record
The longest flight time of a paper airplane indoors is a duration of 31.2 seconds. This world record achievement was made in 2026 by a team of students in China. This team included some of the same members who broke the paper airplane distance record a few months pior. They really are pushing the boundaries of what a paper airplane can achieve! This record flight broke the previous 15 year old record by 2 seconds.
The prior record was made in 2010 by Takuo Toda from Japan. Toda is the chairman of the International Paper Airplane Association. According to him, the secret to a long flight is to throw the paper airplane nearly straight up to get the most height. This gives the glider a long time to go in circles before reaching the ground. If you watch the video of the recent achievement, you will see that these students followed Toda's advice and launched their paper airplane straight up into the sky.
| Historical Records | ||
|---|---|---|
| Name | Date | Record |
| Liu Liwen + Team | Feb 2026 | 31.2 sec |
| Takuo Toda | Dec 2010 | 29.2 sec |
| Takuo Toda | Dec 1998 | 27.9 sec |
| Ken Blackburn | Oct 1998 | 27.6 sec |
| Chris Edge, Andy Currey | 1996 | 20.9 sec |
| Ken Blackburn | Feb 1994 | 18.8 sec |
| Ken Blackburn | 1987 | 17.2 sec |
| Ken Blackburn | Nov 1983 | 16.9 sec |
The rules for the duration record are similar to those for distance. The attempt must be conducted indoors with a paper airplane made from a standard piece of A4 paper. The timer starts when the airplane is released and stops when it touches any other object.
These attempts are conducted indoors to minimize external environmental factors like wind and rising hot air. If there are any anomalies that could provide an unfair advantage it might lead to disqualification.
Longest flight of a paper airplane Guinness World Records
Record breaking flight YouTube channel for Takuo Toda
Paper Plane Wikipedia
About Ken Ken Blackburn
Largest Paper Airplane
The world's largest flying paper airplane is a 24 kg (53 lb) glider that flew 18 meters (59 ft) when thrown off a platform by a single (strong) person. This paper airplane has a wingspan of 18.21 meters (60 ft) and a length of 5.16 meters (17 ft). It was constructed in Braunschweig, Germany in 2013 by a team of 16 university students and employees.
The previous record was set in 1995 by a team from the Netherlands who constructed and flew a paper airplane with a wingspan of 14 meters.
A larger paper airplane was constructed in Fitchburg, USA in 2018, but it was not able to fly so it cannot qualify for this world record. This "paper airplane sculpture" weighs 680 kg (1500 lb) and is 19.5 meters (64 ft) long.
New world record for largest paper aeroplane Braunschweig Institute of Technology
Largest Paper Aircraft Guinness World Records
Largest Paper Aircraft Flight YouTube
Highest Paper Airplane Launch
The Guinness World Record for the highest launch of a paper plane is 35 km (21.7 miles). This paper airplane was launched from a weather balloon in 2015 by a high school science club in the UK. This is higher than a real aircraft can fly and almost a third of the way to outer space. It landed more than 40 km away from the launch site.
The previous record was held by another team from the UK who launched their paper airplane from 27 km (17 miles).
In September 2024, a paper airplane was launched by weather balloon over Italy at an altitude of 41.9km (26 miles) which puts it in the upper stratosphere. This is technically higher than the current world record, but it has not been verified by Guinness World Records. According to this project, this paper airplane was equiped with an electronic tracker that measured the flight at just under 2 hours. The paper airplane landed in the ocean.
Highest altitude paper airplane launch Guinness World Records
Stratos III YouTube
Italian Flight 2024 YouTube
Paper planes launched from space Wikipedia
Other Paper Airplane Records
There are many other world records related to paper airplanes. Here are just a few:
- Longest Line of Paper Airplanes: 14,285 planes
- Longest Chain of Paper Airplanes: 1,926 meters
- Most Paper Airplanes Launched Simultaneously: 12,672
- Most Paper Airplanes Thrown into Watermelons in One Minute: 13
- Most Paper Airplanes Caught by Mouth in One Minute: 17
- Most Paper Airplanes Made in One Hour (individual): 250
- Most Paper Airplanes Made in One Hour (team): 44,138
- Furthest distance to hit a target: 15m
- Most Consecutive Catches of a Paper Airplane: 318
- Most Consecutive Times By a Paper Airplane to Hit a Target: 13
- Fastest Time to Fold and Throw a Paper Airplane: 4.82 sec
Paper Aircraft Records Guinness World Records
Set your Own World Record
Are you eager to get your 15 minutes of fame with your own paper airplane world record? Take a look at the records above and determine which one you think you can beat. In this author's opinion, folding and throwing a paper airplane in under 7 seconds seems beatable. Or, you can always try to throw 14 paper planes into a watermelon!
Once you have picked a record, practice, practice, practice. If you are successful, then you will need to make an official record breaking attempt. To do this, you must create an account at Guinness World Records and submit an application. After a 12 week wait you will receive the official guidelines. You must follow these guidelines exactly to the letter and submit photographic and video evidence of your achievement along with witness statements and other documentation. The paperwork alone may be more difficult than the actual record breaking attempt. Good luck and let us know how it goes!
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