Its official: construction has begun on the Vulture 1 aircraft, as the PARIS team wrestles with the biggest box of paper straws east of the Mississippi.

The challenge has been to keep the Vulture 1 true to the spirit of PARIS, and that means building the thing entirely from paper wherever possible. While the aircraft's fuselage structure is taking shape nicely, there are still plenty of technical challenges ahead as we ponder just how to skin the beast so it really can survive a drop from 20,000 metres.

The Vulture 1 won't, though, be dropping anywhere if we don't perfect the pressure-activated release mechanism. Following an interesting first attempt, we've built a second device, concocted, in typical PARIS Heath Robinson style, from PVC drainpipe, rubber oxygen tine and a few bits of steel rod. We hope to be able to test this soon in Qinetiq's hypobaric chamber, so watch for further updates...