Airplane art: May 26th: Paper airplane day celebrations typically include social gatherings at which participants create and fly paper airplanes. These events often feature contests in two basic flight categories: "distance" and "time in air". As of 2012, Takuo Toda holds the world record for the longest time in air (27.9 seconds).[2] The distance record (226 feet, 10 inches) was set by Joe Ayoob, with a plane constructed by John Collins, in February 2012[3]