Tips on making and throwing Paper Airplanes
The most important thing when making a plane is not making the folds in exactly the right place, although this is important.

More important is making each fold well. To do this, make the folds on a table, pressing down onto the paper with a finger, then go over this with a ruler or pen on its side. DO NOT use your finger nails to make a fold, this makes more than one fold in a small area, and the fold will tend to move about as you make the rest of the plane.

 Another important thing is the angle of the wings, they should be tilted upwards. Once thrown the only way the plane can keep up speed is to lose height gradually. If the wings are level, this loss in height will not occur and the plane will try to climb, thus losing speed and stalling. By putting the wings in a ?Y? shape, this is overcome.

 Now you?ve made the plane it?s time to test it out and fine tune it. Throw the plane and observe its actions:-

Veers left or right

Most planes have some sort of fuselage, or atleast part of the plane is vertically orientated. Gently bend the back of this in the opposite direction to the way it veers.

 eg If the plane veers right, gently bend the vertical part to the left, and throw again.

 

Flies straight into the ground

Here you have 2 options to try:-

 Gently bend the back of the wings (on both wings), or any horizontal part of the plane, upwards, or

 Make the angle of the wings flatter, so they are more level with the ground.

 Both these should add to the lift the plane has.

 

Climbs rapidly, then falls out of the sky

This is the opposite top the above, so the 2 options are:-

 

Gently bend the back of the wings downwards, or

 Make the angle of the wings greater, so the are less flat to the ground.

 Both these decrease the lift, and allow the plane to fly better.

 

All the bends above are very small. They are NOT folds, a slight bend can make a surprisingly big difference, and you can always bend a bit more if it doesn?t work enough.

 

Example

A dart flies straight into the ground, so you decide to bend the back of the wings upwards, as shown below:-

 
3D view
Side view

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edited by kuldip narayan