
Paper Airplane Designs - wilsonfiifi
https://www.foldnfly.com/
======
offsky
Imagine my surprise when I'm reading down the HN list like I do every day and
I stumble upon my own website. Thats a pretty cool feeling! Im happy to answer
any questions people may have. This was my Angular learning project back when
Angular just came out. I think Angular ended up being the wrong choice for
this project, but it works and I learned Angular, so its all good.

~~~
alex_stoddard
Am I correct to assume all the designs are for US Letter paper?

(And not the A4 size common in the UK and elsewhere.
[http://betweenborders.com/wordsmithing/a4-vs-us-
letter/](http://betweenborders.com/wordsmithing/a4-vs-us-letter/))

I remember the frustration as kid getting a book of designs from the US and
having none of them work quite right.

~~~
pantalaimon
For the very same reason I wonder whether there might be a difference in taste
between a metric recipe and an imperial one.

~~~
JorgeGT
Fun story: when the Soviets tried to reverse-engineer captured B-29s bombers
(into Tupolev Tu-4s) they had a lot of trouble because their production of
sheet aluminium, rivets, etc. was done in metric sizes, whereas the B-29 used
imperial-sized components, and thus extensive re-engineering was required to
compensate the slight differences in thickness (and thus in weight and
balance) of all components.

~~~
r00fus
I wonder if this justifies the US adherence to the imperial standard - meaning
it acts as a basic barrier to entry for other countries who use the "world"
standard.

~~~
pandemic_region
sort of like the use of analog comms on the Galactica right?

~~~
TeMPOraL
Not _quite_ the same thing, but since you mention Galactica and her non-
networked systems, I believe watching this show should be required of anyone
even tangentially considering work in an IoT project.

------
simonsarris
In the 90's I went to a small middle school, the 8th grade class was 21
people. Once, the school had a contest in the indoor gym, we each designed
paper planes and the one who flew it the farthest won a prize. We argued with
teachers over an allowance for a little bit of tape, which some of us used
just as nose weight. However, each kid was the one to "fly" his own plane, a
big oversight.

Almost the last kid, when it was Sam's turn to "fly", he stepped up to the
line, crumpled up his design very tightly into little ball, and hurled the
paper mass as far as he could.

Strangely, I can't remember what happened or who won! But his genius
observation of the rules stuck with me.

The plane I designed is not among these designs, but a totally square design
that I had learned earlier from an origami book. This is the closest one:
[https://www.foldnfly.com/17.html#The-Square-
Plane](https://www.foldnfly.com/17.html#The-Square-Plane)

~~~
iaw
Similar story from a university aero course that ended with a paper airplane
competition.

There were some remarkable paper airplanes, making amazing flights, all sorts
of research and time went into developing the ideal model.

One guy comes up representing his team and he gets out a piece of rolling
paper and a lighter. Tears the tiniest portion off the rolling paper, sets it
alight, and then follows it with his finger through the air as it took forever
to land on the ground.

I believe the incident led to a rule change for later years.

~~~
tango24
> follows it with his finger through the air as it took forever to land on the
> ground.

Sounds interesting, but I'm confused. So is he walking in front of it, and the
flame is pulled toward his finger? Did it travel the farthest that way?

~~~
iaw
No, apologies. He burnt the paper and then picked one of the ashes as his
"plane"

His finger never touched the plane after it took "flight" just pointed to it
from the side so that everyone could follow the "flight path."

Some classmates were upset, I was just impressed.

~~~
acjohnson55
Ah, I'm guessing time aloft was the metric?

~~~
iaw
"Time of flight" only the definition of flight was something like unpowered
and untethered off the ground. So floating slowly to the ground becomes
"flight" by the definition of the rules.

~~~
bo0tzz
Wouldn't the burning of the paper technically make it powered?

~~~
iaw
No, the burning of the paper removed a great of mass from the paper turning to
to a brittle paper ash. After the fire was out is when the timer started,
since the paper ash was so much lighter but the same volume its buoyancy in
air was drastically increased causing it to "float."

The up draft from the flame wasn't utilized to power the flight, the fire was
only used transform the original rolling paper into a "plane" by mass
reduction through combustion.

------
verta
Since this is going to be a great pass time for geekids, wanted to throw in a
few resources for completeness:

Windtunnel to test: [https://www.instructables.com/id/Paper-aeroplane-wind-
tunnel...](https://www.instructables.com/id/Paper-aeroplane-wind-tunnel/)

Project form: [https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-
projects/project...](https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-
projects/project-ideas/Aero_p046/aerodynamics-hydrodynamics/how-far-will-
paper-planes-fly)

Another page with slightly different features:
[https://www.origamiway.com/paper-
airplanes.shtml](https://www.origamiway.com/paper-airplanes.shtml)

~~~
scoot
> Since this is going to be a great pass time

I thought this was a fantastic eggcorn[1], until I realized that it is the
actualy origin of the word 'pastime'. So, it sort of is, but isn't at the same
time.

[1][https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eggcorn](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eggcorn)

~~~
verta
Thanks for introducing me to a new linguistic trivia!

------
usrusr
Question: there is a "rule" separating "no cuts" from others, let's call it a
purity class. Is "no arbitrary folds" also an established purity class? When I
was a kid with too much paper at my disposal, arbitrary folds felt like
chatting. Arbitrary folds would be any fold not defined by either a side or
existing fold aligning with another side or existing fold or by a corner
aligning with another corner. Many intermediate folds would be done just as
guidelines for layer folds, and four the structural effect they would have
after getting undone. A bit like the "only lines and circles, no measurements"
rule in geometry.

~~~
tempestn
Going to be tricky since the leading edge of the wing where it meets the nose
is often 'arbitrary' in this sense.

~~~
tiglionabbit
Paper airplanes are generally symmetrical, which means you can begin by
folding the paper in half and using that fold to determine where the nose is.
Unless you mean something else?

~~~
tempestn
I'm talking about the leading edge of the wings, where they meet the fuselage.
How far up that is from the tip of the nose is often not based on any existing
edge or fold.

~~~
usrusr
The fold that separates the "fuselage" from the wing? Not the leading edge
(except in one point), but you are right, that is the one where many otherwise
non-arbitrary planes make an exception. My favorite designs, front heavy with
a decoratively complex leading edge would usually have plenty of potential
guidepoints for the fuselage fold though. Good times, bringing up those
memories makes me wonder when exactly I stopped.

~~~
tempestn
Yes, that fold, but specifically that leading point of it. Often the back can
have a reference point, like having the edge of the wing meet the bottom rear
corner of the fuselage. But yeah, the fold in general is often more arbitrary.
But not really; you would try to fold a plane as consistently as possible, so
something like 'begin the fold 1/8" from the tip of the nose' isn't arbitrary
at all.

Similarly, you often don't want to fold right to a crease, as it can cause
bunching. It's often a better idea to leave a mm or so of extra space for
inward folds. Doesn't make the design less pure or anything though.

------
romwell
I would like to promote what I think is the ultimate source of this kind:

The Greatest Paper Airplanes[1], a virtual interactive encyclopedia for
Windows 3.1

Of course, you can use it in the browser these days[1].

It goes through basics and history of flight, basics of paper folding, and
gives you dozens of interactive, animated, step-by-step designs.

Loved it as a kid, and was thrilled to see it preserved online.

[1][https://classicreload.com/win3x-greatest-paper-
airplanes.htm...](https://classicreload.com/win3x-greatest-paper-
airplanes.html)

~~~
buxtehude
thanks for sharing this - the animated step-by-step is very nice and
especially useful if you're following any kind of complicated design

------
skykooler
Hi! There's a paper airplane I've made which I learned out of a book a while
back - the book called it either a "condor" or "albatross", I forget which,
but searching for either of those names turns up different designs. It's an
excellent glider, and one of the few designs I know that start with the paper
in landscape orientation. If you're interested, here's how to fold it:

\- With the paper in landscape orientation, fold the top corners to meet in
the middle.

\- Fold the top corner [just created] down to the point where those two
corners meet.

\- Fold the two new obtuse corners on the top to meet in the middle. Tape into
place.

\- Fold in half left-to-right, so that the taped corners are on the outside of
the fold.

\- Fold the edges back down to the centerline.

\- Unfold, and smooth out to give it the profile of an upside-down flattened
W. The flatter, the better it will glide, but if it's too flat it will spin.

Launch by holding the back, as it has no vertical surface to grip on the
bottom.

~~~
woah
That book was "the gliding flight"

------
Rainymood
I actually "invented" another paper airplane design called the Nakamura Hammer
(because it combines the designs of the nakamura lock and the hammer). I made
it to the frontpage of Reddit, so that were my 15 minutes of fame. Here's the
tutorial

[https://imgur.com/gallery/b2Q8X](https://imgur.com/gallery/b2Q8X)

It flies really really well inside.

------
keerthiko
In high school we used to receive printed notices aka 'circulars' from
administration to give our parents (do they still do this?) -- our classroom
window overlooked a cabin used for temporary classes with a corrugated
asbestos roof. After promptly turning my circular into a plane and flying it
out the window, exclaiming "hey i got to the 5th row on the cabin roof!"

Thus began the hottest aerodynamics contest in my academic life, we
experimented with so many designs, tried all kinds of crazy modifications.

The interesting thing was, our classroom window was an entire story higher
than the cabin roof -- the usual "paper plane contest hack" of rolling a paper
ball and chucking it as hard as you can was not very good compared to a
functional aerodynamic design with some lift.

The "contest" ended when a week later someone reported our antics and the
school was aghast to find 40-odd paper planes roosting on the portacabin roof
and our entire class was given some stern warnings but luckily noone sold me
out as the instigator.

------
tempestn
From one of the example videos on the site, I got suggested this fun video
where the maker of the world record distance paper airplane a few years ago
shows off and explains a bunch of different designs:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2n4xq0DnbHI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2n4xq0DnbHI)

The record flight is shown at the beginning, with more info on the plane at
13:55, but the whole thing is a fun watch.

------
davegauer
Fantastic! I love the design of this site: the way it greets you immediately
with big thumbnails of actual paper airplanes.

I was flying some "Basic Dart" and "Square" planes (those are the only two
designs I know by heart) with my kids the other day and I was thinking, "I bet
there are a bunch of great designs online somewhere..." And here we are!

~~~
int0x80
Agree! That is what I've liked more about the post. The design is just great.
Very good looking, simple, and clean. The planes are nice too though :)

------
TimTheTinker
I grew up reading "The Ultimate Paper Airplane" by Richard Kline:
[https://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Paper-Airplane-Step-
Instruct...](https://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Paper-Airplane-Step-
Instructions/dp/0671555510)

I didn't have the right tools or expertise to build most of his planes (most
notably rubber cement), but I do wonder how these planes stack up against
currently popular paper airplane models.

He talks a lot about his invention (and patenting) of the Kline-Fogleman
airfoil, which creates a vortex that influences the laminar flow and increases
stall resistance.

~~~
pohl
I have a vivid memory of how excited I was by the 60-minutes episode about
this paper airplane, and I grabbed a copy of this book when I saw it in my
college bookstore.

Making the various models was a lot of fun, although I don't think I ever
obtained the specific weight of paper they mention in the book. That's still
on my bucket list.

------
wafflesraccoon
I wonder if anyone has attempted to use machine learning to try and build a
better paper airplane. I feel like that would be super interesting.

~~~
ratsimihah
If you give me a realistic physics environment to train an agent in I'll do it
for you.

~~~
tonyarkles
Hmmmmmm. I wonder if X-Plane would be capable of simulating that... they
basically do an FEA model of flight, although I’m not sure if it would scale
down appropriately.

~~~
Alupis
Flight physics don't scale down (or up) well. It's the predominant reason
small airplane and quad models have enormously unscalable performance
characteristics and abilities.

Making it bigger doesn't "just work"... same for the inverse.

~~~
TylerE
I think the physics mostly DO scale down, it's air density and gravity that
don't.

------
rdtsc
Very interesting, I wonder how regional these are.

For example I grew up with this one as the "basic" / default:

[https://www.origamiway.com/plane-nakamura-
lock.shtml](https://www.origamiway.com/plane-nakamura-lock.shtml)

Notice how it has a high air time and distance. I used to launch them them
from my 8th story apartment in the city. On a right day, some would take off
and would be carried by the wind to where I lose sight of them.

~~~
sundarurfriend
Here in India, I grew up with the Basic Dart (from the OP site) as the default
paperplane for kids to do. But the one you linked to was also pretty common,
usually made by the "cool" uncles entertaining kids at parties.

------
theoh
This is slightly tangential to paper airplane folding, but I strongly
recommend Duncan Birmingham's YouTube channel ("The Pop-up Channel"):
[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCx2M2bGHtXBszG6tuR_NIbQ](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCx2M2bGHtXBszG6tuR_NIbQ)

Pop-up books are works of art, but they rely on a vocabulary of a few dozen
mechanisms, each of which operates in relation to an opening fold between two
pieces of paper or card. Birmingham is a great, systematic expositor of the
analytical prerequisites for the wildly creative stuff you might come across
in a bookshop these days (there's a boom in spectacular pop-up books, see
[http://www.bestpopupbooks.com/](http://www.bestpopupbooks.com/))

I should add: pop-up books are still assembled by hand (in the Far East), not
by robot; so if they seem inexpensive, there's a bit of a story there which
might not flatter the book trade. A microcosm of globalization.

------
svdr
World record plane: [https://www.wired.com/story/learn-how-to-fold-a-world-
record...](https://www.wired.com/story/learn-how-to-fold-a-world-record-
setting-paper-airplane/)

Throw planes around the world:
[https://paperplanes.world](https://paperplanes.world)

------
mncolinlee
When I used to teach AP Computer Science, I'd have my students make paper
airplanes on the first day.

I'd have them write down the instructions to make their airplanes. Then I'd
follow their instructions in the strictest, most literal sense possible,
resulting in some lopsided airplanes.

It was a great beginning lesson in algorithms.

------
eloycoto
Love this one!

Over the last two years I made a lot of paper aeroplanes for my nephew, after
that I started to build my own glider planes and now we're into RC planes.

If you want to get a bit more of a hobby I highly recommend Flitetest
community, they made awesome things, and is a great resource to get kids into
the hobby.

[https://www.flitetest.com/](https://www.flitetest.com/)

RC-Plane from cardboard pizza box [https://www.flitetest.com/articles/flying-
wing-made-from-a-c...](https://www.flitetest.com/articles/flying-wing-made-
from-a-cardboard-pizza-box)

Flite test Steam [https://www.ftstem.com/](https://www.ftstem.com/)

~~~
matthewmcg
I've had a similar progression. Have you gotten into discus launch gliders?

~~~
eloycoto
Yep, also, we are starting to think to build a shuttle they are easy to build
:-)

------
tomesposito
what ever happened to the tube? [https://www.instructables.com/id/Tubular-
paper-airplane/](https://www.instructables.com/id/Tubular-paper-airplane/)

~~~
cicero
I had success with that design as a kid. It was called "the bishop's hat" in
the book I had.

------
AnimalMuppet
I tried for the longest paper airplane flight in history - from the top of the
Space Needle in Seattle. Unfortunately, the plane hit the anti-suicide mesh,
lost all momentum, and from there went straight down. I took the elevator
down, walked to the plane, picked it up, and threw it in the trash can. (Don't
litter.)

------
Udo_Schmitz
I got the German version of this from the library when I was a kid:

[https://www.worldcat.org/title/great-international-paper-
air...](https://www.worldcat.org/title/great-international-paper-airplane-
book/oclc/41144308/editions?referer=di&editionsView=true)

It has designs from this competition:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8gWE8wHhkE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8gWE8wHhkE)

There is also a second book:

[http://www.worldcat.org/search?q=The+Paper+airplane+book+the...](http://www.worldcat.org/search?q=The+Paper+airplane+book+the+official+book+of+the+Second+Great+International+Paper+Airplane+Contest&qt=results_page)

------
abbot2
Suprisingly enough, this collection doesn't seem have the design most common &
popular in Russia, roughly this:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrsxMqvHXkw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrsxMqvHXkw).

~~~
gdw2
That's the de-facto design I used as a kid growing up in the US.

~~~
evdev
Also my design as a kid, turns out I'm Russian??

~~~
abbot2
I never claimed this design to be Russian ;) I only said it is very popular
there.

------
abruzzi
I've made a variant of the "tailed plane" for years--its one of my favorites.
What's interesting to note on that one, I don't generally throw it normally
like other paper airplanes. Instead, I place the front of the plane facing my
hand, with my index finger and ring finger on either side of the nose, and my
middle finder inside the crease of the nose. Then you just do an overhand
fling, loosening your fingers about 2/3rds of the way through he arc. All the
folds at the nose, makes the nose heavy, so it turns around and flies nicely.

------
eitally
This is one I grew up with (as the dart & square plane alternative). If you
fold the winglets as the instructions, you end up with an aerobatic plane. If
you instead just gently bend the plane in half along the center line (so it
looks somewhat arc-shaped), you get a pretty reliable glider.

[https://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-an-aerobatic-
pa...](https://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-an-aerobatic-paper-
airplane/)

~~~
ahartmetz
As a kid, I only knew the basic design and the square. I almost always used
the square, which I learned with two differences from the description on the
website: I folded up the outer ~0.5-1cm of the wings as "winglets" (which
seemed to help stability) and folded in a triangle of varying size in the back
of the fuselage for trim instead of cutting ailerons into the wings.

On a windy day in the vortices behind trees at my elementary school bus stop,
I had such a square glide for what felt like at least half a minute
(unreliable narrator obviously) after launching to maybe 3-4 meters. That
lucky random walk wouldn't have worked without the low sink rate of a good
square.

------
dmitripopov
When I was a kid a paper plane was just a fun DIY toy. Now I am almost 40 and
I find paper planes have a lot of existential meaning. And they are a fun DIY
toy.

------
j2kun
One trick I always used but never understood why it worked:

When you add a crease to the paper airplane, (say, folding a square corner in
on itself at the nose or the tail), it weighs down that part of the plane. So
if your plane is pointing up too much, you add a crease in the nose and it
flies more level.

But why should adding a crease increase the weight of one section of a plane?
You're not adding any more paper.

~~~
dmerrick
You are moving the center of mass of the paper. Imagine balancing a pipe
cleaner on your finger, should be pretty easy, right? Now add a bend and see
that you have to reposition the pipe cleaner on your finger

~~~
j2kun
I'm moving the weight more toward the center of the plane, but the plane
"appears" heavier in the front. This is the opposite effect, no?

------
jetrink
When I was a child, I had a book with many of these designs. I tested them all
from the top of a nearby building's fire escape. My goal was always a long,
slow, stable flight and I got the best results with the Square Plane and the
Bird. These planes were able to glide all the way across the parking lot
(about 120ft estimated using Google Earth imagery.)

~~~
petepete
I always aimed for (but rarely achieved) a long, slow, stable flight, never
had anywhere high enough to test my better attempts. What I'd have given for
an empty stadium to test in

[https://youtu.be/BV6EP9bBbac](https://youtu.be/BV6EP9bBbac)

------
peterburkimsher
I think Yasuaki Ninomiya, the retired Japanese engineer, could add some more
expert designs based on his paper plane research.

[http://articles.latimes.com/1990-03-16/news/vw-465_1_paper-a...](http://articles.latimes.com/1990-03-16/news/vw-465_1_paper-
airplane)

------
acjohnson55
I won my last company's paper airplane contest by making a dart with double
thickness. I was disqualified, however, which seemed hella lame. My throwing
strategy was to aim about 30 degrees upward and throw in a smooth motion,
which seemed like the way to prevent it from going haywire.

------
dougmwne
It would be fun to have a small electronics package that could turn some of
these designs into RC flyers.

~~~
ynniv
[https://www.poweruptoys.com/](https://www.poweruptoys.com/)

~~~
nathancahill
Wow, awesome. Have you tried it? My nephew would love this.

~~~
tehwebguy
I tried I believe the v1 (just a dumb motor) and the v2 (with a rudder). Both
were neat but the v2 was iPhone controlled and very, very cool. You need a LOT
of room and it takes some time to get the hang of the throttle, which is your
only real up-and-down control.

------
endgame
I found this design many many years ago, and it's always been my favourite for
aesthetics:
[http://www.members.tripod.com/~Yesitsme2/paperdc3.html](http://www.members.tripod.com/~Yesitsme2/paperdc3.html)

------
molszanski
The best one I've tried is called: paperang.

You can find instructions by searching: "paperang paper airplane".

There is a TED talk about it:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VS7zcI_5Mp0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VS7zcI_5Mp0)

------
Muha_
In childhood we knew one type of paper planes ([http://korki.lol/kak-sdelat-
bumazhnyiy-samoletik/](http://korki.lol/kak-sdelat-bumazhnyiy-samoletik/)) and
it looks like it is not here.

------
dekhn
I remember reading about some twins who made airplanes that would just sort of
fly around on the thermal currents generated by their bodies. Never could
figure out how that works but I have seen ones where you can fan the plane
with a big cardboard.

------
nsomaru
There was a windows “app” called The Greatest Paper Airplanes. Anyone remember
that?

~~~
opencl
Internet Archive has the shareware version.

[https://archive.org/details/PAPERAIR](https://archive.org/details/PAPERAIR)

------
User23
When I was a child I had a book that listed quite a few of these. It was so
popular with my classmates in kindergarten that the school ended up banning
paper airplanes except on "Paper Airplane Fridays."

~~~
anonytrary
I wonder how many engineers society lost because they banned that.

------
CaseFlatline
A feel-good movie to watch with the kids : Paper Planes -
[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3328716/](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3328716/)

------
Varcht
I hope kids are still making paper airplanes and getting off their phones
occasionally. Some novel designs here for me. Looking at these, I think I have
been making my elevators too large all these years.

------
sekou
This is wonderful. Long ago MS Publisher had templates that allowed you to
build paper airplanes. I remember discovering this as a kid in elementary
school with my friends.

------
jatsign
Great site, going to try and interest my kids, but - no videos of the planes
actually flying? I want to know what "acrobatic" actually means.

------
lifeformed
What's the easiest one that does reliable loops?

~~~
jfk13
I remember flying successful loops with a Barnaby back in my childhood; sadly,
it looks like his book (How To Make and Fly Paper Airplanes, Ralph S. Barnaby)
may be out of print.

I'm sure there are many newer books and designs these days, but that was the
one I knew and loved.

------
spazzpp2
The one I fold since 3rd grade is missing. The world champion in distance is
missing, too.

------
ThomPete
Hah, I can see at least one missing. But definitely going to go through this
with my kids.

------
jansan
As an owner of a considerable collection of books on paper planes I approve
this website.

------
crazyprodigy
Feats of engineering performed with just a sheet of paper. Amazing!

------
partycoder
Try to not be wasteful and don't use blank paper.

------
ratsimihah
1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-2

~~~
spelunker
Those (apparently) are the input choices of the options on the upper left. The
values update when you change the selections. Creative I guess.

~~~
chaoticmass
It is a bit nicer looking than ?option_a=1&option_b=2&option_c=3 etc

~~~
profalseidol
I wish we can design the web better. Maybe a human readable breadcrumb instead
of reply?id=18250367&goto=item%3Fid%3D18249755%2318250367

------
modzu
they've gone to the trouble of making video instructions for each plane but
they don't show it flying? what the

------
kulu2002
This is fantabulous! Thanks for sharing

------
ohsik
I see this website everywhere I go lol

------
looper-life
Was never fond of arts and crafts at school, but when it came to building
something outta paper, here I was, all the time paper airplanes. I really love
flying in general, so this was my escape into an imaginary world! Thanks for
this article in input! Kudos!

