DIY Paper Airplane

How To Make a Traditional and Modern Paper Airplane

Paper airplanes have been around forever it seems. If you ask anyone - any age and either gender - most will agree that they have made and flown a paper airplane at some point in their lives.

Memories of constructing paper airplanes out of white notebook paper... the ones that flew daringly from the back of the classroom to the teacher's desk... right before the teacher grabbed it and crumpled it loudly and single-handedly...

The nostalgia of it brings a smile to the memory keeper's face. That same paper airplane - the detention-getter - was probably a type of "glider".

Gliders are best flown in non-windy conditions. That's why the indoor classroom was the perfect venue. They are light, long distance fliers - floating gently through the air. They are also very easy to construct. You probably still remember how, even if you've been out of school for decades.

The beauty of the traditional glider is that it is very forgiving and easy to assemble. If you make a mistake, you can simply adjust your folds to make your plane glide more gracefully or farther.

5 EASY STEPS TO MAKING A TRADITIONAL GLIDER:

1. Fold a 8"x11" sheet of paper in half long-ways, or along the 11" side. Open and you have created 2 halves. This is Side A.

2. Position paper with 8" edges on top and bottom; your crease should be running vertically. Fold the top right corner point to meet the crease. Repeat on left side. Keep these folds closed. You should have created a pointy end.

3. To give strength and weight to that pointy end, you will fold the right side again, focusing on creating a very sharp point. Repeat on left side.

4. Rotate paper to Side B, or backside. Fold paper in half along the center-line. Look at your glider now. You now should have a point (or the nose - the part you aim to throw), 2 wings, and the body (or fuselage - the part you hold onto before your release the glider in the air).

5. The last step requires you to fold each wing downward, lining the top edge of the wing as closely to the edge of the fuselage while maintaining a tight, clean crease.

Congratulations! You have just made a traditional glider!

What makes one paper air plane better than another? Should we judge our planes on ease of construction, length of flight or distance traveled? Personally, I vote for the fun factor. And hopefully, you'll have plenty while visiting this week's paper airplane website picks.

Alex's Paper Airplanes

From Alex's gallery of two dozen airplane designs, visitors have selected the Dragon Plane and Paper Helicopter as their favorites. The Dragon, an original design, flies "true and fast" and is "the best plane to hit your teacher with." The Helicopter is popular because it is both simple to make and simple to fly. You can peruse the rest of the planes by difficulty of construction (easy, medium, hard) or jump right to the fastest, longest flying, or most unusual designs.

Best Paper Airplane

During the summer of 1950, eight-year-old Michael O'Reilly watched in amazement as his sister's boyfriend made the best paper air plane in the whole world. "When he started folding the paper, I knew this was something different, something special. He never explained how he did it but every move, every fold, every detail was burned into my memory." Today, Michael shares the secrets of the DC-3 paper plane: how to build it and how to fly it.

Joseph Palmer's Paper Air Plane

Joseph Palmer's planes are "designed to fly," not look like real airplanes. As a paper air plane purist, none of his designs require cutting, taping or weights: just a single sheet of 8.5" by 11' paper and your fingers. There are only four designs here, but the illustrated instructions are excellent, and judging by visitor feedback, all of them are great flyers.