Bologna Students Break Record with 6-Story Paper Plane

A group of college students turned a classroom daydream into the world's largest flying paper airplane, proving that sometimes the best engineering projects start with a little goofing around between lectures.

Seven aerospace engineering students in Bologna, Italy spent months transforming sheets of paper into Icarus, a massive aircraft with a 65.75-foot wingspan and a length of over 23 feet. The plane broke a Guinness World Record that had stood since 2013.

"It all started with a few paper planes between lectures," the team explained. They were students who believed that with the right approach, even a piece of paper could become real engineering.

The journey from doodle to record breaker took serious work. The team ran computer simulations to predict how their giant plane would behave in real life, then built two prototypes to test their theories.

Their first attempt was nicknamed Prometheus, after the Greek titan who brought technology to humanity. The second version, Daedalus, was made entirely from paper and glue to meet the official record requirements.

Each failure taught them something new. They refined their techniques until they finally created Icarus, named after the mythological figure who dared to fly.

At the EU's We Make Future event in Bologna, 23 people unveiled their creation to an excited crowd. The massive plane floated gracefully for several dozen feet before gently gliding to the ground, moving exactly like a regular paper airplane but ten times bigger.

The Ripple Effect

This record shows how playful curiosity can lead to real achievement. The students combined childhood nostalgia with advanced engineering skills, inspiring others to see potential in simple ideas.

Their success also opens doors for young people everywhere. Guinness World Records now offers three paper plane challenges for kids under 16, including most targets hit in three minutes and fastest time to make three origami planes.

"Big achievements always have a lot of hard work behind them, and this one was no different," said the official Guinness World Records adjudicator as he handed over their certificate. The students proved that sometimes the distance between a classroom distraction and a world record is just determination, teamwork, and a whole lot of paper.

A piece of folded paper just became a symbol of what's possible when students refuse to stop dreaming.