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Ask Slashdot: The Very Best Paper Airplane?

Posted by Soulskill on from the important-life-skills dept.

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!"

7 of 183 comments (clear)

  1. Outdated by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    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.

  2. the bat by electrosoccertux · · Score: 5, Informative

    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....

  3. Take environment conditions into account by ninjackn · · Score: 5, Funny

    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.

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    [FUCK BETA 2.6.2014]
    1. Re:Take environment conditions into account by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      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.

    2. Re:Take environment conditions into account by flaming+error · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I would have appealed their decision. If that's the whole story you were smart, not an ass. I've always judged my planes against the baseline of a crumpled paper ball, and when I've run competitions, we always had an event specifically for crumpled balls. If your event organizers didn't want that design, they should have prohibited it before the event. If that design never occurred to them, then you taught them a valuable engineering lesson.

  4. Scientific American Published a book on it. by Earl+The+Squirrel · · Score: 5, Informative

    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.

  5. Re:FIRST by GeorgeMonroy · · Score: 5, Funny

    I recommend the learn the grammar.

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