Being Proactive About Paper Airplanes on Einstein

[bdaroz]

Found this on Reddit today.... I'm just going to leave it here.

https://gfycat.com/SingleDeepEidolonhelvum

[Koko Ed]

FIRST is about as proactive about the paper airplanes as they are about seat saving. They make a mention of it and leave it at that ("Saving seats is bad!!" *waves a disapproving finger). If they wanted it to stop they could get really nasty about it and threaten to take away awards from teams that toss paper airplanes and the activity would stop cold because suddenly something teams actually care about("OMG! NO BLUE BANNER?") is being taken away and you'd never see another plane. Alas, FIRST has no interest in doing that and does not have the personnel to police the activity so the planes will keep on flying from now til Armageddon til someone ends up losing an eye and sues FIRST and FIRST does do something about the activity to avoid future legal action.

[synth3tk]

So basically like any other company: Defer until it's the only option you have.

[Tharioth Pillow]

As a team, we spent about an hour discussing this sensitive topic last night.
The final conclusion was that we wouldn't throw them.

[OccamzRazor]

It may be extreme but I told my team if I caught any students throwing them then they would be expelled from the team for the 2017 season.

If your team worked hard enough to make it to Einstein and your driver gets hit in the ear by an airplane during F-3 and it costs them that boulder shot for the win do you think the refs will replay the game? Probably not.

It is immensely unprofessional as well as disrespectful to the facility, the volunteers, and the teams that worked to be on that floor. Although it may be fun to do, you will inevitably have people who abuse that fun and stick pennies in nose of the plane and other nasty things to hit people with.

Matter of fact, I saw one kid steal a roll of paper towels from the bathroom (the big heavy brown paper kind) and toss it over the edge. It did not unspool the entire roll before it hit a luckily empty chair several feet below the deck with a loud neck cracking thump. What if that had hit someone? Obviously that is different than tossing a paper plane but I feel like throwing things has only inspired the throwing of more daring objects.

Just enforce it so it does not get out of hand on your individual teams even if you do not take a hard stance on planes. It really is a huge safety concern to be hit in the eye by a plane. As much as they police safety glasses I am astounded this has not been addressed yet. I used to enjoy taking my glasses off to watch matches at Championships but not anymore.

As far as people calling it a "FIRST Tradition"..... please stop. I have never once seen Championships have as many planes as I did in the 2014 and 2015 seasons. 03, 04, 05, and even up to 2011 you did not see hardly any planes being tossed like you do now.

It has gotten out of hand.

[SteveGPage]

To echo what has been said here, for the many reasons expressed, we don't believe that it is appropriate either. We talked to the team last night and said, even if a speaker "encourages" it they are not to do so. The only way they are allowed to throw anything, is if Dean himself gets on the stage and asks them to do it. Otherwise, anyone caught doing it will be removed from the dome, and their future participation on the team would certainly be in doubt. Any planes that land in our area, will be immediately put into a trash bag that we will have with us in the stands.

836 will not be throwing paper airplanes in the dome.

Steve

[pfreivald]

Ask:
1. Is what I'm doing to stave off boredom safe?
2. Is it courteous to others?
3. Will it not make a mess that others will have to clean up?

For paper airplanes thrown in a stadium, the answers are no, no, and no. That's a triple tortuga on the courtesy outer works.

Don't throw airplanes. It's obnoxious.

[RoboChair]

This is a gun

It shoots paper airplanes



Far more entertaining than confetti.

[wilsonmw04]

Originally Posted by RoboChair

This is a gun

It shoots paper airplanes

Far more entertaining than confetti.

What's your point?

[RoboChair]

Originally Posted by wilsonmw04

What's your point?

That releasing streams of blunt nosed paper airplanes instead of confetti would be far more entertaining while still providing around the same level of clean up clutter.

[Tharioth Pillow]

Originally Posted by RoboChair

That releasing streams of blunt nosed paper airplanes instead of confetti would be far more entertaining while still providing around the same level of clean up clutter.

No one said anything about confetti... Also, they're still a pain in the neck to clean up.

[RoboChair]

Originally Posted by hrench

What about the confetti? should we stop that too? That's actually provided by the organizers.

No, because it's fun too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=340rbguRulo

Originally Posted by CalTran

Celebratory confetti is different. It's something the winning Alliance has earned and I imagine the venue knows about well in advance with all of the setup for the system.

Originally Posted by gp2013

Personally, I think the paper airplanes have a lot more going for them than the confetti dumped at the end of the competition. I know from experience it is a lot easier to clean up paper airplanes than small bits of 'confetti'. The confetti lasts all of 5 minutes, gets everywhere, sticks to everything.

Originally Posted by Tharioth Pillow

No one said anything about confetti... Also, they're still a pain in the neck to clean up.

lots of people brought up confetti...

[FRC_498]

Im ready for Championships.....

http://www.amazon.com/PowerUp-Smartp...356114&sr=1-84

[jajabinx124]

Originally Posted by Tharioth Pillow

No one said anything about confetti... Also, they're still a pain in the neck to clean up.

Confetti is used to celebrate a winner or something and while it is a pain in the neck to clean up, there is a cause behind releasing confetti. Whereas paper air planes are thrown for fun from the stands and that act itself is disrespectful IMO. There is a difference.

Also I dislike them also because they do hurt. My freshman year during 2013 during Einstein someone chucked one with a bunch of buttons attached on it and it smacked into my head. While it wasn't the end of the world I was still startled/a bit in pain.

[Zebra_Fact_Man]

Originally Posted by FRC_498

Im ready for Championships.....

http://www.amazon.com/PowerUp-Smartp...356114&sr=1-84

Oh man. In the hands of skilled drivers, this is a dangerous tool.