paper airplanes

May is a good time to land at Denver Int’l Airport

Sadly, the 250-ft tall Red Eye Ferris wheel announced by Denver International Airport (DEN) on April 1 was just an April’s Fools joke.

But there are plenty of real events coming to the airport during May that travelers will enjoy.

May The Fourth Be With You

Like some other airports around the country, Denver International Airport has a good time on Star Wars Day – May 4th.

This year they’ll do it again. On Thursday, May 4 characters from the Star Wars movies will be parading in the Jeppesen Terminal and all the concourses between 10:30 am and 1 pm.

Travelers will be able to get their pictures taken with Darth Vader, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Mandalorian, and a Stormtrooper.

On Friday, May 5, DEN Airport will celebrate Cinco de Mayo with a performance by the Baila Conmigo Dance Group in the Jeppesen Terminal Great Hall and in the concourses between 10 am and 1 pm.

National Paper Airplane Day 

And on Friday, May 26th between 9 am and noon, Denver International Airport will be celebrating National Paper Airplane Day.

From 9 am until noon a traveling craft station will visit the concourses at DEN with a supply of origami paper and offer tutorials on how to fold the perfect paper airplane.

See the list of these and other events at Denver International Airport here.

Miss flying? Make your own paper airplane

It will be a while until you can visit a United Polaris lounge and order the specialty cocktail that comes with a little cut-out of a paper airplane.

But you can use your at-home time to make your own paper airplanes.

Reno-Tahoe International Airport’s (RNO) Kindness Takes Flight Home Edition has this handy downloadable paper airplane design that includes numbered instructions.

The Fold ‘n Fly site offers a database of paper airplane designs, with instructions and videos, that can be searched by difficulty and type, i.e. acrobatic, time aloft, etc.

My favorite is the one that is designed to fly like a bee.

And, once you’ve made your paper airplane, you might want to download instructions for making a paper airplane launcher, courtesy of Scientific American.

And let’s take a moment to celebrate the fact that since 2017 the paper airplane has been a soaring member of the National Toy Hall of Fame housed at the Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, New York.

Here’s part of the Strong’s ode to the paper airplane:

… The success of the Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk in 1903 fostered renewed hope of powered flight and no doubt contributed to the purported invention, in 1909, of the paper airplane. The principles that make an airplane fly are the same that govern paper versions. Paper’s high strength and density make it similar, scale-wise, to the materials used to construct airplanes...

…Play with paper airplanes is far from formulaic and constrained. Where some toys require financial investment, paper airplanes start with a simple sheet of paper, coupled with dexterity, to produce a toy with infinite aeronautical possibilities. 

Bonus features on Oakland Int’l Airport website

Poke around on some airport websites and you’ll find some fun, surprising and educational stuff.

Case in point: the Oakland International Airport (OAK) site, which has a link to the Exploratorium’s instructions on how to fold a paper airplane, information about the Oakland Aviation Museum, which sits on the airport’s North Field,

and a great historical video about the history of the airport and its connections to Charles Lindbergh, Amelia Earhart and other aviation pioneers.

You can watch the entire 20-minute video, or see bite-size segments of the film on the OAK website.