[Chris_Ely]

The paper airplanes was one of my least favorite parts of champs when I went in 2013. I was one of my team's representatives that got to sit down on the floor during Einstein. By the end of the ceremonies, the floor was covered in paper. I left feeling very sorry for the event staff that had to stay and clean up the mess, as well as ashamed that the members of an organization which normally holds itself to such high values would leave the place that hosts their championship so trashed. It is disrespectful to the speakers, Einstein teams, people below you, environment, and clean-up staff. Just because something is "a tradition" does not mean it should continue.
Making it an official event won't solve the fact that it makes a huge mess, waists a lot of paper, and is a danger to the people in the lower seats. I fail to see much engineering going into most of the planes people make. Having yet another contest to see who cleans up them most won't do much. Teams are already in a rush to either get to the finale or their hotels.
I hope that next year FIRST makes it known to the teams that they don't endorse this "tradition", and will enforce some sort of policy to stop it.