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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!"
They can test out ideas in a cool way.
Might not win a competition, but I've always liked this design. Looks way cool when flying.
The Ring.
Life is like a web application. Sometime you need cookies just to get by.
I remember this from an old over 30 years ago.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Build-the-Barnaby-Paper-Aeroplane/
The very best distance paper airplane I have ever encountered was shown to me by a fellow church-going Virginian when I was about 5 years old.
You fold the paper into a very narrow dart looking shape, a wingspan of maybe an inch or so at most, a length of almost the entire sheet. Throwing this paper airplane, you can get incredible distances.
I've never seen anyone else use that design, not that I've looked especially hard.
In my life, I've thrown two of these that I tracked with my eyes for 5+ minutes that never came down.
First was from ground level but in a downtown area. It caught the currents between the tall buildings and just kept going and I lost it after it crossed a street and I couldn't cross fast enough to follow.
Second was from a 19th floor balcony. The two other paper plane designs my friends used fell to the ground in less than a minute. Mine reached about the 4th floor, caught an updraft from the hot asphalt streets, and never came down. It flew so high that it became a dot and eventually wasn't visible.
Cliffs: this design is great for gliding and catching air currents, and will fly forever if it catches the right one. Throw outdoors for great fun.
When I was a kid, we had a longest flying plane contest. The rules were the plane had to be moving, and out of your hands. I attached a piece of string to it, and whipped it around for four minutes. The buggers DQed me, stating that I should follow the spirit of the rules.
Hoist Number One and Number Six.
The intent of the organizers is to generate designs with "nice" glide ratios. But to encourage that, the right metric is not distance of flight, but time aloft. A paper airplane that slowly covers 15' is a much "nicer" design then a wadded paper ball that covers 40' in two seconds.
"Uh... yeah, Brain, but where are we going to find rubber pants our size?" --Pinky
I prefer "The Great International Paper Airplane Book", by Mander/Dippel/Gossage (from 1968!):
http://www.amazon.com/Great-International-Paper-Airplane-Book/dp/1578660289/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1334112956&sr=1-1
Probably the first serious book on the subject, and a must-read if you're into paper airplanes.