The goal for gliding flight is to descend vertically as slowly as possible. This represents the lowest rate of change of potential energy(power) which is the minimum product of drag times velocity. Generally the minimum sink rate for gliders is just above stall, and that's true for paper airplanes as well. For those interested in the details and math, finding the minimum power required involves taking the equation for powered required, differentiating with respect to velocity, and setting this equal to zero (standard calculus procedure for finding the minimum or maximum of a function. Starting with the basic parabolic drag curve; In general, there are four aerodynamic forces that act on the paper aircraft while it is in flight: Paper models typically have a wing aspect ratio that is very high (model sailplanes) or very low (the classic paper dart), and therefore are in almost all cases flying at velocities far below their wing planform and aerofoil critical Re, where flow would break down from laminar to turbulent.

This article's lead section may be too short to adequately summarize the key points. Please consider expanding the lead to provide an accessible overview of all important aspects of the article. ( July 2023) For every goal there is a typical plane and sometimes a world record. [6] A contest-winning paper glider. In recent times, paper model aircraft have gained great sophistication, and very high flight performance far removed from their origami origins, yet even origami aircraft have gained many new designs over the years, and gained much in terms of flight performance.

Games

Paper pilot gliders make use a curved-plate aerofoil shape for best performance. Their design, like the White Wings gliders, is very sensitive to trim, and in fact have the capacity to make indoor flights in confined spaces under average conditions. Written and designed for younger paper pilots, it has simpler planes with brighter, bolder graphics; games, activities, and fun aviation facts (the "A=Alpha, B=Bravo" pilots' alphabet, for example); and everything kids need to fold and fly. They will learn how to design their own planes, do stunts, and build a 3-D airport with stuff found around the house, and they'll discover that the largest aircraft ever flown wasn't a plane at all. There are 16 models and 76 full-color planes in all, a full-color poster of an airport, a pilot's license and flight log, and a field guide to common aircraft. A number was devised which gives the relative importance of viscosity in fluid flow. It is called the Reynolds Number, and it is the ratio of momentum forces to viscous forces in a fluid. The bigger the number, the less influential the viscosity. The viscosity is essentially a constant for a fluid (it changes a bit with temperature), but momentum is proportional to the speed of a fluid over a surface times the distance it has traveled over the surface. For air it is roughly:

Innovations include functional wheeled undercarriage which does not contribute to the drag budget while permitting good landings. Principal photography took place in both country and metro Western Australia, though the film states the setting as being in New South Wales (given they "drive down to Sydney"). Locations used for filming include an abandoned school in Roleystone, an old house in Baldivis, HBF Stadium (previously known as Challenge Stadium until 2014), Whiteman Park, the Perth Zoo, and the Aviation Heritage Museum in Bull Creek. Flight performance on bungee is very good - one glider in particular, a scale model U-2 (in the last book of the series) had demonstrated flight performance in excess of 120 meters, on bungee hook launch. M.M. O'Meara and T.J.Mueller, "Experimental Determination of the Laminar Separation Bubble Characteristics of an Airfoil at Low Reynolds Numbers", AIAA-86-1065, May 1986Paper Airplane: The World's Best Paper Airplane is the Paperang". Paperang.com. 2008-06-04 . Retrieved 2009-06-22. The "secrets" to making paper airplanes fly well are largely the same adjustments which make hand launched gliders fly well. Most people have the unfortunate idea that a good paper airplane needs no adjustments after the basic folds are finished. All real airplanes have trim tabs to make small adjustments to the plane, and all paper airplanes need small adjustments to fly their best. There are a few basic adjustments and principles which will transform the paper airplane novice into a paper airplane expert. The following flying tips are generally covered in my books, but I go into a little more detail here. Unpublished models include an Airbus A320 scale model much like the Ju-52, seen on the Tekkies youth program in 1996. It is possible to create freestyle versions of paper aircraft, which often exhibit an unusual flight path compared to more traditional paper darts, jets and gliders. Another propulsion technique, creating high launch velocities, involves the use of elastic bands for "catapults". Walkalong gliding involves the continuous propulsion of paper airplane designs (such as the tumblewing, follow foil [12] and paper airplane surfer [13]) by soaring flight on the edge of a sheet of cardboard. Professors Ninomiya and Mathews (see sections below) developed more directed design strategies in the late 1960s and the 1980s. Previously, paper model aircraft had been designed without an emphasis on performance in flight. By using aerodynamic design, and fluid dynamics, both professors were able to design models that exceeded previous flight performance criteria by a very wide margin. Ranges of flight increased from the typical 10+ meters to 85+ meters, depending on energy input into the gliders on launch.

On 9 November 2013, filming had begun in Perth in Western Australia and in Tokyo with Robert Connolly directing. [4] Sam Worthington, David Wenham, Julian Dennison, and Ed Oxenbould star in the film. [5] As mentioned in section 2.2, where a paper airplane balances is called the Center of Gravity (CG), and there is a specific CG position known as the Neutral Point which provides neutral pitch stability. If the airplane has a CG ahead of this point, the plane is stable, if its behind this point its unstable. Naturally all airplanes without computer assisted flight controls need a CG ahead of their neutral point. For rectangular wings the neutral point is ¼ of the distance from the nose to the tail. For delta wings (such as the common dart paper airplane) the neutral point is ½ of the distance from the nose to the tail. Fold the top two corners down so they meet the center crease. This is the classic way to start a paper airplane, and probably what you first learned as a kid. Philip Rossoni (2012). Build and Pilot Your Own Walkalong Gliders. McGraw-Hill. pp.27–73. ISBN 978-0071790550. Most people who are reading this know that airplane wings are "Cambered" which means they have generally a curved shape, with the top of the airfoil rounded and the bottom fairly flat. As explained in section 3.0, paper airplane wings must be thin to work well. In addition, they need very little camber, and generally any curvature is limited to the front portion of the wing. I have had people ask me why I don't advocate cambered airfoils for paper airplanes in my books. Since most paper airplanes are flying wings, only small amounts of camber are practical, as large amounts of camber create nose down pitching moments which need tails to balance. Generally I do use a little curvature at the leading edge of the wing. I have noticed that paper airplane performance is not noticeably degraded with flat, uncambered airfoils. The reason for this is likely due to low Reynolds numbers. Remember that a large portion of the boundary layer across the front of the wing is laminar flow, but for high lift we need a turbulent boundary layer. The use of a flat uncambered wing produces a large pressure gradient at the leading edge, which likely aids the transition to a turbulent boundary layer, which could likely be the reason for little camber in insect wings. Also, swept wings with uncambered leading edges promote vortex flow just behind the leading edge on the upper surface. Although lift coefficients at these Reynolds numbers aren't large enough to promote a large amount of vortex lift(vortex lift increases exponentially with lift coefficient), any vortex flow likely helps the transition to a turbulent boundary layer.

On 24 June 2015, a club from Kesgrave High School in Suffolk, United Kingdom, achieved the world record for the highest altitude paper plane launch, reaching an altitude of 35,043 metres (114,970ft). [16] See also [ edit ] Not directly applicable to paper airplanes, but covers some of the wing flow physics, and contains many Most full size planes have wings, a tail, and a fuselage (body) that holds the pilot and passengers. Most paper airplanes have just a wing and fold of paper on the bottom that you hold when you throw the plane. There are several reasons for the differences.