MONROE COUNTY, Mich. (WXYZ) — An aviation student from Monroe takes Michigan to the global stage after competing in the world’s largest paper airplane contest in Austria.
The Red Bull Paper Wings World Championship is a one of a kind tournament that takes place every three years. And, as the name suggests, contestants make their creations using a single piece of A4 paper.
20-year-old Evin Cooper never thought in his wildest dreams that despite flying actual planes, the aviation student would have bragging rights for being a paper plane aviator.
"In an interview someday if they would ask me, what would we find if we looked up your name? Well, I had a national record for a paper plane contest one time, not many people get to say that," said Evin Cooper, U.S. record holder in Red Bull's Paper Wings National tournament.
Cooper began mastering the art of paper plane making after winning a local contest at Western Michigan University, which took him to Dayton, Ohio for the Red Bull's Paper Wings National 'Qualiflyer' event.
The goal was simple, to come up with a design that would get the maximum flight time.
"I got 14.06 seconds. That was the national record for the whole competition at the time. So, I ended up beating it by about a second and a half," Cooper said.
The prize for winning the national event was a trip to Salzburg, Austria to compete among 61,000 hopefuls from over 60 countries in the world championship.
Due to delays in obtaining his passport and flight issues, Cooper arrived late to the event, which eventually cost him the title. But for him, the experience was the true prize.
"Being a person that’s never traveled the world, and going overseas, I got to meet so many cool people. I don’t even know how many different countries, but it was just an awesome time," Cooper said about his time abroad.
Cooper hopes to obtain his commercial pilot's license this fall, but his biggest mission now is to perfect his plane's design to not only take his last record to new heights, but to also land him the Red Bull Paper Wings World Championship title.
Evin is gearing up for his next event, taking place in 2025 and wants your help with naming his new design.
To submit a name, head over to the WXYZ Facebook page and add your suggestions in the comment section under this story. If he chooses your submission, he will send you a signed paper plane.
