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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!"
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.
They can test out ideas in a cool way.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Awesome-paper-plane!!/
due to its erratic flight, it let you use the full gymnasium, much more exciting than anything that flew in a straight line....
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.
Speed? Distance? Height? The optimal design depends on what you want to achieve.
I remember this from an old over 30 years ago.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Build-the-Barnaby-Paper-Aeroplane/
I've always liked Ken Blackburn's that set the world record, it's easy to make and the wing actually makes a nice airfoil.
horror vacui
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.
[FUCK BETA 2.6.2014]
She initiated deflagration to which he exploded in premature ignition!!!
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.
The Great International Paper Airplane Book by Scientific America : http://www.amazon.com/Great-International-Paper-Airplane-Book/dp/0671211293
had, at least at the time, the "best performing" for time aloft, distance, etc. The designs were very solid.
The record was recently broken: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newsvideo/weirdnewsvideo/9112031/Paper-aeroplane-throw-in-US-sets-new-world-record.html
I grew up having to go to church. And every week, I would wait so impatiently for the 20 minutes or so at the end of service when all of us kids would get the run of the main hall and run around in circles and burn off all the energy we'd saved up sitting still!
We had a perpetual paper airplane contest, because every week there were program sheets passed out that nobody cared about after the service. So I spent years competing for the best flying airplane, at least among other children under 12 or so.
The very best design I ever concocted was a "square plane" design, something like this one, except that instead of folding it down the middle, I bent it up about 1" along either side, making it into a low, squared off "U" shape when viewed from the front. Experiment with different sizes of roll, different lengths of roll until you get it right. (I didn't get much result making the fins down either side much smaller or bigger, 1" is about perfect) I usually got best results with the plane being 6" wide and 6" long - nearly perfect square, with about 5 inches of paper rolled up at the front.
Launch by pulling it into the air straight up, over your head, with your fingers under the front rolled-over part, it will gently fly with the fins up ("upside down") and glide a long way, dancing along the edge of stall. If you are looking for excellent hang times (not speed) this is the plane you want. 30 seconds or more of airtime are commonplace.
I have no problem with your religion until you decide it's reason to deprive others of the truth.
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.
For aiming, it's only slightly worse than the dart style of paper plane, but this one has *WAY* more lift....when made correctly, a gentle toss can send it gliding almost perfectly straight for dozens of yards.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
"The Harrier"? Where did that come from? This plane is known as Nakamura lock, although this design is normally recognized as the "defualt" paper airplane design. It doesn't really need a name. When someone simply says "a paper airplane" without providing any specifics, it is universally assumed that Nakamura lock is implied.
Back when I was still at school, one year, my classroom was one overlooking a deep vale. One of our primary pastimes that year was chucking assorted stuff out the window and see how it'd fly. Mostly (but not limited to) paper planes.
The record winner for that year in terms of distance covered, and by far, was also the simplest model we ever came up with.
It was much like the Ring mentioned above, except even simpler. Where the Ring's profile makes an O, the Box's makes a square U. So you don't even need tape.
Just take a rectangular piece of paper, fold the front over several times to make a thicker leading edge, and fold two vertical wings so the thing will look somewhat like an elongated cube with three missing sides. That's it. Not only it flies, but it flies pretty well, so long as you balanced the 'wings' well enough.
-- B.
This sig does in fact not have the property it claims not to have.
I recommend the learn the grammar.
You got the touch!
I'll reply to you because you're high up enough to be noticed.
Absolutely no one in the thread has noted my favorite design. Sorry, no pics. This is a stunt design, not about distance.
1. Typical 8x11, vertical/portrait
2. Bottom left corner to 3/4 right side.
3. Bottom right corner to match = "Inverted house". Crease hard. (I flip 180 degrees here for ease on next step.)
4. Buckle the two sides in so that you get another "house" but this time with two extra flaps.
Protip: Slight variations in this step lead to different tricks.
5. Fold Nose Half to 2/3 of the way to the base of the "triangle". (Created by the cross folds.)
6. Fold directly in half along the base to connect both wings.
7. Fold each wing down making a fuselage
8. Fold wingtips up or down as desired.
It's a slow heavy design but it can do about 4 tricks depending on mods:
Yoyo Loops (Right back to your feet), Circle Patrols, Short-Direct flights 15 feet away, or "Ditzy" where it completely loses its balance and goes haywire.
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
This design appears to be identical to one I learned to make from a Klutz Press book. It is called the Nakamura Lock, after its designer, and it is definitely the best paper airplane I have flown indoors. It seems kind of tacky to rename it - the designer should get some credit for his work.
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.