airplanes

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Craft Design

Step-by-Step Instructions on Making the Paper Airplane that Broke World Records

John Collins, aka The Paper Airplane Guy, is a master at shattering world records with a single sheet of paper. The aircraft designer now has collaborated with Great Big Story on a new video that not only teaches the Susanne, the model that secured his spot in the Guinness Book of World Records in 2012, but also two others that swoop through the air. As its name suggests, the Tube resembles a hollow cylinder designed to be tossed like a football, while the Boomerang is the most complex of the trio, requiring more complicated folds and angles in order to craft a model that returns to whoever throws it. You can find more instructional videos on Collins’s YouTube channel or in his book that comes with 16 tear-out model planes.

Art

Peek Out of These Painted Airplane Windows to Spot Diverse Landscapes

All images © Jim Darling

An ongoing series by artist Jim Darling depicts many of the scenes you probably miss while you’re napping on a lengthy flight. “Windows” mimics that of an airplane view, depicting lush landscapes, rocky gorges, and dense urban areas from a 35,000 foot view. Since we last wrote about the Los Angeles-based painter, Darling has produced more cityscapes, glimpsing pockets of skyscrapers and lengthy freeways as the viewer swoops overhead. The white-framed paintings even seem to feature the shade that can be pulled down to block the aerial views. Pushing his lifelike portrayals even closer to reality, Darling refers to the piece shown above as “DFW to LAX” on his Instagram. (via Booooooom)

Design

Fasten Seat Belt Sign Not Included: New Furniture Designed Using Retired Aircraft Parts by Plane Industries

In 2016, Plane Industries (formerly Fallen Furniture) debuted a massive chair made using a reclaimed cowling from a Boeing 737 airplane engine. Over the last three years, the small UK-based company has continued to expand their array of furnishings and home goods that are designed and built with parts from civilian and military aircraft. Using exit doors, wheels, exhaust cones, and leading edge slats, Plane transforms them into functional lamps, tables, clocks, and chairs. Their newest design is the BAe 146 Cowling Chair, a smaller companion to the original 737 design.

Plane Industries was founded in 2012 and is led by two brothers who were inspired by their farmer father’s ethic of saving and repurposing materials. The team works out of a studio in Bath, England. See more from Plane Industries on Instagram and Facebook and shop the collection on their website.

Design Documentary

Rubber Powered Model Airplanes Take Flight in New ‘Float’ Documentary Trailer

The full trailer for the documentary Float (previously) introduces the world to a niche indoor sport that involves building and flying self-propelled model airplanes. Directed and edited by Phil Kibbe, the film follows two American pilots, Brett Sanborn and Yuan Kang Lee, as they gear up for the sport’s main event: the F1D World Championships in Romania.

The new trailer showcases the elegant movement of the model planes, and the delicate technique that the pilots use to tightly twist the rubber bands that power them. The movement of the planes appears to be slowed down, but the movement of the pilots and spectators confirms that the footage has not been altered for effect. The world premiere of Float will take place on April 5 at the 43rd Cleveland International Film Festival, in Cleveland, Ohio, with additional screenings throughout the weekend.

Photography

Time-Lapse Photographs Capture Swarms of Airplane Lights as They Streak Across the Night Sky

Pete Mauney has been interested in observing the dizzying patterns of planes at night since high school. As a teenager the photographer would watch airplanes has they circled Manhattan, imagining their trajectories and how they might intersect. Although he has worked with night imaging for the few decades since, it wasn’t until he began to photograph fireflies that the idea to return to his initial inspiration struck. As he practiced and improved his techniques for long exposure and editing, he realized he could make similar images of the swarms of airplanes that were circling large cities, rather than his backyard.

“Like the fireflies, airplanes are highly engineered systems that do the same thing reliably over and over again,” Mauney tells Colossal. “The chaos and form in the images come from them not happening in the same spot, but maybe a bit more over there, introducing difference. Each image is a mystery and I find the reveal moment about as magical as one can get within the otherwise non-magical world of digital photography.”

His photographs capture the streaks of light that blaze across the night sky when slowed down during a long exposure, showcasing prismatic flashes combined with starscapes and positioned above calm environments. Mauney will have an upcoming solo exhibition at the Kleinert/James Center for the Arts (Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild) in Woodstock, New York from July 5, 2019 to August 18, 2019. You can see more of Mauney’s images, of both flying planes and darting insects, on his website and Instagram. (via Kottke)

Animation Art

Perspective: Hilariously Shortened Vehicles and Other Edited Oddities Race Around a City’s Streets

Fernando Livschitz of Black Sheep Films (previously) edits everyday footage in order to add a touch of the bizarre to mundane scenes. In his most recent short film he imagines a world where certain vehicles have been hilariously shortened, landing tiny planes on one wheel, and racing single-car trains along a track. In addition to these edited vehicles, he removes horses and bikes from their riders, making it seems as if jockeys and bicyclists are effortlessly floating through the world. You can see more of Livschitz’s short films, many of which are Vimeo staff picks, on his website.