A former American football quarterback put his skills to a very different use as he set a new world record for throwing a paper aeroplane.
Joe Ayoob threw the dart an amazing 226 feet 10 inches in an aircraft hanger at McClellan Air Force base in Sacramento, Calidornia.
The 27-year-old shattered the previous record by over 20 feet with a perfect throw which saw the plane climb, dive and then climb again before almost running out of room in the vast space.
"I grew up making paper airplanes," he said after his feat. "Some people might think, 'What's the big deal? It's just a paper airplane.' But it's a world record.
"There's a lot of finesse involved. It's kind of blending power, balance, and control while you're throwing this fragile, little paper airplane."
Ayoob - a former college star in American football who is one of the few men ever to throw, run in and catch a touchdown pass in the same game - hadn't actually built the plane himself. It was designed by John Collins, a TV producer and part-time aerodynamicist who spent years studying origami in an attempt to create the perfect paper aeroplane.
And Collins believes that Ayoob's record is just the start for his brainchild - which he claims is currently only limited by finding the right indoor space.
"There's way more potential with this design," he said. "I don't know how far it can go. It might be capable of 300 feet. We still haven't been in a space big enough to truly test it.
"Now we've got the world record. If someone wants to drag us out to a great big venue and let us (try to improve on the record), we'd probably go for it."
