Aviation student from Monroe headed for World Finals paper airplane contest
The sky’s the limit for Western Michigan University aviation student Evin Cooper of Monroe and his record-setting flying skills.
The 20-year-old folded a paper airplane that soared through the air 14.06 seconds and set a new national record at the Red Bull Paper Wings National Finals in Dayton, Ohio. On May 14, Cooper will fly to Austria for the World Finals.
“I am very grateful for the opportunity to represent my school and country in such a fun event,” Evin added. “Never in a million years did I think my first trip to another country would be to throw a paper airplane.”
The competition, hosted at different colleges and universities across the U. S., began in 2006. Participants must make their paper airplane using one standard piece of paper. They can only fold the paper, no ballasting, cutting, gluing, ripping, or stapling is allowed.
Evin’s love for aviation stems from time he spent as a young boy flying remote-control planes with his grandfather, Steve Aldridge of Monroe.
"Building and flying these smaller models at Munson Park with my grandpa is what led me to wanting to get in the aviation field and ultimately become a pilot,” Evin Cooper said.
According to Evin’s dad, Dirk Cooper, his oldest son showed an interest in flying at a young age and spent a lot of time with this grandfather and other members of the flight club, “Weak Signals,” in Temperance.
"It’s not often that a kid chooses a goal that young and pursues it with such rigor,” Dirk Cooper said. “When he told us he had won the contest and set a national record, we couldn’t believe it. He had signed up on a whim and had never competed before.”
Evin based the design of his paper plane on aerodynamics and research he did on YouTube for the world’s best paper airplane’s airtime.
“There were a few iterations of the design, so I folded all of them and tested them out in the main hangar at the (Battle Creek) airport. After finding the one that worked the best, I continued to practice until the national competition,” he said.
Perhaps Evin’s technical origami skills as a child transferred into folding the plane.
“In order to get the optimal flight characteristics, all of the folds must be made with a lot of care. Any asymmetry or poorly creased folds will affect the stability and aerodynamics of the plane and decrease performance.” he said.
The 2019 Monroe High School graduate credits his background in aerodynamics and aviation flight science classes at WMU helped him build a better plane. He’s happy with his design so any adjustments will be determined during practice throws.
“A basic understanding about how a little alteration will affect the flight characteristics both on the toss and glide are a big part of getting a competition-worthy time,” Evin said. “I will do a little practice in the hangar in Battle Creek to make sure my throwing technique is still good. Knowing I am representing the U.S. in the competition does add a bit more pressure to make sure the plane and my throw are as good as they can be.”
The WMU junior will have to finish taking finals before he starts packing for Austria. His goal is to become a certified flight instructor, then build required flight hours so that he can transition to an airline career.
Mr. Cooper said the entire family is extremely proud and everyone will be pulling for him in Austria. On the off-chance Evin gets to take along a flying buddy, he’s taking his mom while his dad and 12-year-old brother, Flynn, cheer from Monroe.
“When Evin sets his sights on something he usually accomplishes it,” Mr. Cooper said. “We are thankful to Red Bull for sponsoring him and I’m sure he will have some interesting adventures to relay to us.”
This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Monroe student sets national record for paper airplanes
