FlingWing Paper Glider 120+ Foot Flights!
Intro: FlingWing Paper Glider 120+ Foot Flights!
We decided to reverse engineer a toy trick glider (SkyTrix) and the results were quite good. Plus it was fun to play catch with! Approximately 36.5 meters for my first flight!
STEP 1: Parts Needed
1 sheet of A4 or printer paper.
1 Postage stamp sized piece of duct tape.
2 to 4 feet of string or ribbon. (we just used dental floss.)
1 Postage stamp sized piece of duct tape.
2 to 4 feet of string or ribbon. (we just used dental floss.)
STEP 2: Fold the Paper As Shown
I haven't yet figured out how to describe this verbally, so instead just do as shown in the pictures.
STEP 3: Fasten the String
Tape the string securely along the airplane's center of gravity. Make sure the string is fastened exactly on the bottom crease and not on only one side of the rudder!
STEP 4: Fling It!
Hold the end of the string at a length shorter than the distance between your hand (when pointing at your feet) and the ground. Then swing the plane fast in a circular manner. Release the string when your arm is pointing upwards at about a 45 degrees angle. The plane should fly very far, but if it doesn't, you may need to adjust the back edge of the wings. If your plane came out warped, just fold it flat and place it under a heavy book for a few minutes. We also found that moisture absorbed by the paper from the grass made it unstable until we dried the plane in the sunlight. This plane is also great for yo-yo-like tricks!
STEP 5: Video
A YouTube video demonstrating the Paper Fling Airplane is embedded in this tutorial, but I noticed that it is only visible on the website, not the mobile android app. Let me know in the comments if it is visible to you on your device.
Comments
dmagryta124 9 years ago
I've actually discovered that it works just as well to use a small binder clip with string attached clipped on the paper airplane's center of gravity. I'm thinking of updating the tutorial to mention this, however I think that most people are more likely to have tape on hand than small binder clips. Also binder clips might damage your lawnmover if you lose the clip on the lawn!