Airplanes. Airplanes everywhere!

[Ben Wolsieffer]

Someone threw a plane onto Einstein Mass during the match countdown.

[Robby Unruh]

Originally Posted by the duderoni

If you're legitimately upset by people having fun by throwing some paper airplanes, you should probably find something to be more concerned about.

Also, this kind of stuff totally happens in actual sports - not that we need to try and be like a professional sport. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtE7eFcKvvs

You're looking at this all wrong. Of course we have better things to care about. It's about respecting the teams on the field and the staff that are going to have to pick that crap up.

[George A.]

Its all fun until one lands on a field after the match starts....

[Jeanne Boyarsky]

Originally Posted by Jay Trzaskos

Airplanes are one thing, but I think we can all agree that throwing large, tightly wadded rolls of paper towels into the stands isn't a good idea, right?

#LitterAgreement

Yes!

I tweeted today that I was sitting in a paper airplane flight path. I don't mind that I got hit many times by them and grazed on my cheek once. After all, this happened because I has a great seat

I do mind that I got hit in the back by a foam stress ball toy plane. I get that it was thrown as a joke. And it didn't hurt. But it felt like a bit much

[Nathan_H]

I personally quite enjoyed seeing the airplanes. The only problem I have with them is when they're made out of an entire newspaper section. Those things can get pretty heavy, and when they get airborne for a while they get up to good speeds. A couple landed near me before the Einstein matches. Thankfully they only hit my shoes...

[Mr. Rip]

Airplane throwing got out of hand. It was fun while we waited for the Einstein playoffs to start. It was an unnecessary nuisance the remainder of the afternoon and detracted from the proceedings.

I asked my students to stop throwing. I wish others had done the same.

If you that think it is all in good fun, please encourage your students to throw paper products during all FIRST events.

Scott Rippetoe

[George A.]

http://imgur.com/oEJoulQ

http://imgur.com/UyxYex6

http://imgur.com/4WFTKk7

These are 3 pictures I took on my way out after the last finals match. The number of people I saw slip on the paper was absurd. I've been to numerous professional sporting events and this was worse than all of them. As other have said paper airplanes are one thing. But airplanes made out of an entire Championship Brochure, folded poster board, or even just throwing random heaps of paper over the edge isn't fun. Its immature and incredibly disrespectful to those sitting below. Some of the airplanes even had chewed gum holding them together....


/rant

[protoserge]

That is so disrespectful to the venue. We are part of the FIRST family. We share the principles of Gracious Professionalism. Making a mess for others to clean up is not Gracious Professionalism. Annoying the thousands of fellow FIRSTers watching the event proceedings by hitting them with a barrage of paper is not Gracious Professionalism. Creating an unneccesary safety risk is not Gracious Professionalism.

Do we even need to have this argument anymore?

Please. No more paper airplane throwing.

Lead by example.

[orangemoore]

Originally Posted by George A.

http://imgur.com/oEJoulQ

http://imgur.com/UyxYex6

http://imgur.com/4WFTKk7

These are 3 pictures I took on my way out after the last finals match. The number of people I saw slip on the paper was absurd. I've been to numerous professional sporting events and this was worse than all of them. As other have said paper airplanes are one thing. But airplanes made out of an entire Championship Brochure, folded poster board, or even just throwing random heaps of paper over the edge isn't fun. Its immature and incredibly disrespectful to those sitting below. Some of the airplanes even had chewed gum holding them together....


/rant

I think it was excessive. It should stop but how will it?

[Koko Ed]

I apologized to the poor guy who had to clean it up saying that this isn't what FIRST is about. He said it was all good. You guys need to start thinking about your actions and who it affects. How would you feel if you had to clean up that mess and planes just kept coming down?

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by Anna3098

I love the paper airplanes, I think most of us do. And yeah I don't think that the volunteers have to clean them all up, but I don't see a huge problem with them before Einstein or opening ceremonies, but it seems so tied to me when people throw them while there are people on stage speaking. It seems like it gets kind of out of hand.

Some of the volunteers were shoveling paper airplanes to the side to move game pieces to tear down.

[Anna3098]

Originally Posted by Koko Ed

I apologized to the poor guy who had to clean it up saying that this isn't what FIRST is about. He said it was all good. You guys need to start thinking about your actions and who it affects. How would you feel if you had to clean up that mess and planes just kept coming down?

I brought this up to the rest of my team and they literally said "they aren't that hard to clean up, the just take a big broom and they have to clean the stands anyway." That seemed surprisingly disrespectful coming from them. I feel so awful for the people that take time out of their day trying to do us a service and end up having to pick up airplanes. Honestly I think FIRST should release some kind of serious statement about it next year - not just "please don't throw paper airplanes."

[sanddrag]

Originally Posted by Anna3098

I brought this up to the rest of my team and they literally said "they aren't that hard to clean up, the just take a big broom and they have to clean the stands anyway." That seemed surprisingly disrespectful coming from them. I feel so awful for the people that take time out of their day trying to do us a service and end up having to pick up airplanes. Honestly I think FIRST should release some kind of serious statement about it next year - not just "please don't throw paper airplanes."

It's hard to undo an Air Force official " ordering" everyone to throw planes.

And it wasn't just the planes. There was all sorts of trash including food trash all over the place. It reflected poorly on our program. It sends the message of "thanks for hosting us in your city, hopefully you've got someone to clean up our mess when we leave"

[Qcom]

I'm bringing this up here because I haven't seen it discussed.

If this is such a problem, why doesn't FIRST put a message on the screen before Einstein starts? The vast majority of kids at these events are not the rulebreaker type. And though I loath to say it, many mentors would crack down on airplane throwing out of fear of the all seeing judges nixing their chairman's award at the last moment.

[Anupam Goli]

Think of the airplanes as trash and litter in a different form. That's right, whenever you throw a plane, you're littering. Even worse, you're making your trash someone else's responsibility. Also some of these less aerodynamic planes really nosedive and accelerate, making them a safety concern. In a game themed with recycling, it would be nice to see someone recycle their unused program instead of turning them into planes and littering them onto the dome floor and in the stands.

I'm proud to say no one on my team even thought about throwing an airplane, because they all thought it was childish and was annoying. That, and I jokingly threatened to kick some of them off the team