How To Make The Voyager Paper Airplane

Designed to supplant older "cruiser" paper airplanes and provide a newer, more accurate model of a typical aircraft, the Voyager is a simple drone paper airplane that can be used by more than just paper aviators.

I began designing the Voyager to fully replace the aging Pioneer and Condor paper airplanes, as well to supplant the Albatross, Dragonfly, Jayhawk and Ranger paper airplanes, among others. To this end, I decided to take advantage of developments discovered since the last drone "trainer-cruiser" paper airplane. The empennage underwent several redesigns for weight reduction and realignment. One of my goals in designing the Voyager was to make it an excellent cruiser--and to make it an airframe from which students can learn. For that reason, I retained the constant chord wing so as to simplify the placement of additional surfaces (such as flaps) on the wing.

Because of its simple layout, I believe the Voyager would be a suitable student testbed aircraft. It may be useful for educators seeking to introduce students to aviation, flight dynamics and geometry.

Some potential experiments possible with this airframe include:
•Glide ratio
•Weight and balance
•Hangtime versus other aircraft
•How surface inequality can affect aircraft (geometry/shape studies)

TAA USAF Designation: D187-1

Step 1 Materials

Required:
1 Piece of 10.5 by 8 inch graph paper (4 boxes per inch)
Tape
Stapler
Scissors
Ruler
Pencil