Ask Slashdot: The Very Best Paper Airplane?

An anonymous reader writes "'The Harrier' (or 'Eastern star,' as it is also called), is very well known, and is considered to be one of the best paper airplane designs. After much searching and trying, I have not found a better plane. So, I am asking Slashdot: is there anything that beats 'The Harrier' in a competition (indoors or outdoors)? This would be a really nice geek skill!"

Comments

Outdated

[Anonymous Coward]

The harrier is 1980s technology. Try a F35-B joint strike fighter STOVL variant. Folding instructions are a bit behind schedule and over budget still.

Re:Outdated

[Beardo the Bearded]

The F35-B only uses one sheet of paper, and we have to have two sheets to fly properly in Canada's arctic weather.

Re:Outdated

[Anonymous Coward]

And I thought our government was three sheets to the wind when they decided to buy the damn things.

Take environment conditions into account

[ninjackn]

One time at my university the engineering department had this paper airplane competition, everyone was given a sheet of 8.5x11" paper and a paper clip. It was particularly windy that day and the event had been organized for better weather so we ended up having to throw the planes directly into the wind from ground level. The distance of the various planes people built ranged from -10 feet to 20 feet from launch point. Taking this into account I decided to modify my design at the last second. I stepped up to the launch area with my plane, aimed it at a 45 degree angle, crumbled it up into a ball and threw it as hard as I could. I got something like 40 feet and had the furthest distance. I kept saying that it was designed to minimize air resistance but In the end I was disqualified for being a smart ass.

Re:Take environment conditions into account

[Anonymous Coward]

My school did the same thing at a physics competition. They gave us paperclips duct tape and paper to make a device that would travel the furthest through the air after being launched by hand. They never said "paper airplane" but that's what they had in mind. We put a bunch of paperclips in a paperball and taped it together, and one of the kids on our team was a pitcher for the school's baseball team so he just chucked it down the hallway. It hit the backwall and we won our school an award for it.

Re:Take environment conditions into account

[fahrbot-bot]

The simple explanation is that you throw like girl. :-)

Re:I made a Saturn V once

[Genda]

She initiated deflagration to which he exploded in premature ignition!!!

Magic trick

[eulernet]

Just use a sheet, draw a treasure map on it, and let it fly.

In a lot of movies, a simple sheet of paper is able to fly long distances, even when there is no wind, as long as it contains something important for the hero.

Re:Ask the mythbusters

[LordLucless]

Yes. They will test out which paper plane travels the furthest by considering a number of different launch techniques, one of which will inevitable be being propelled by the force of an explosion.

Re:FIRST

[GeorgeMonroy]

I recommend the learn the grammar.