On March 21, 2012, the Pima Air and Space Museum launched an 800 pound paper airplane into the skies over a Tucson desert.

The enormous paper airplane was 45 feet long with a 24 foot wingspan. This plane was made with Falconboard, a light-weight, paper based product, but is still sturdy.

The museum held ‘The Great Paper Airplane Project’, a contest asking 6 to 14 year-olds to design the best paper airplane they possible could; the students would later participate in a competition to see whose plane flew the farthest. After determining a winner, the museum would collaborate with Art Thompson, one of the men that helped design the B-52 bomber, and the end result would be a large scale model of the plane.

“It’s great to see kids interested in science and things like this and hopefully this will get them more interested in math and science, and less interested in Gameboys and things like that, ” says physics teacher Mr. David Wirth.

Arturo’s Desert Eagle, which was named after the contest winner 12 year old Arturo Valdengro, was lifted into the air by a helicopter to a height of about 2,703 feet and took its flight, reaching speeds close to 100 miles per hour; however, its flight was short lived, lasting about 6 seconds before collapsing under its own massive weight and crashing nose first into the desert.

“I think this is remarkable, I think its nice to see people be creative, and create things that are otherwise considered impossible or unbelievable,” continues Mr. Wirth.

Pima Air and Space believes that their plane is possible record breaking and plan on displaying their creation in the museum in the near future. As for Arturo, he knows now that he definitely wants to become an engineer.