The Science
Here's a simple experiment that will demonstrate the approaches our two teams took when challenged to fly a life-sized dummy as far as possible.
Take two pieces of A4 paper and make one of them into a paper aeroplane and screw the other one up into a tight ball. Now try throwing each one several times.
You'll probably find that the ball normally travels further than the aeroplane. That's because as long as you get enough force behind it you can pretty much guarantee that the ball will cover a fair distance, whilst the success of the aeroplane depends on many different factors, like the shape of the wing and the angle of take-off.
That's why judge Jem Stansfield felt that the Vikings' safety first, simple approach was most likely to triumph on test day, and he was almost proved right – the Vikings were leading up until the Beach Bums' final flight.
The beauty of the glider approach though, is that wings allow you to take advantage of changes in weather conditions, as the Beach Bums proved when Cliff caught that lucky gust of wind.
