PAPERANG - best paper airplane

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The Paperang Paper Airplane SystemDesigned and published by Edmond Hui PhD

Text and art copyright © 1998-2001 by Edmond HuiAll rights reserved. No part of this book, including interior design, cover design, and icons,may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, by any means (electronic, photocopying,recording, or otherwise) without the prior written consent of the publisher, except as follows:For personal use, or use for teaching in a recognised educational establishment, the entireunaltered ‘print disabled’ electronic form of this document may be freely copied and distrib-uted for viewing on computer displays. If you wish to use the copyrighted information forcommercial purposes, please visit www.paperang.com for more information.The Paperang Paper Airplane System is shareware, priced $10. Try before you fly! If youenjoy making and flying Paperangs, please register. Registration entitles you to receive thelatest ‘print enabled’ version of this document, full e-mail support, and makes you feel muchbetter. To register, please visit www.paperang.com

Click here to register now!

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About This DocumentThank you for installing this Adobe Acrobatpdf document, which is designed for on-screen use. It has been downloaded from thePaperang Website, www.paperang.com

The latest version of this document is avail-able from the website.

This revision of the document was created27 January 2001. I have resisted the tempta-tion to overcomplicate it with further in-structions, designs, and diagrams; nor have Itaken the advantage of new technologywhich would allow me to includeanimations and video. This is because I be-lieve that it’s important that the documentshould be as simple as possible to downloadand use.

I’ll be delighted to receive comments on thePaperang. You can e-mail me at the addressgiven on the website; I will do my best toreply, although if response is overwhelmingI will post a ‘frequently asked questions’section on the website, or improve thisdocument as appropriate.

If you register this document, you will beable to download and access any subsequentversion without further payment.

Conditions of use1. The contract between Edmond Hui (‘the publisher’) and the purchaser shallbe under the jurisdiction of the laws of England.

2. The product provided is an electronic document and the publisher is notresponsible for any loss or injury resulting from its misuse or use other than inaccordance with the directions or without proper precautions.

3. A paper airplane is a projectile and with all projectiles there is a chance ofinjury by impact with a person. Never launch the airplane towards anotherperson.

4. A paper airplane must always be launched from a safe and stable position.Do not launch while standing on furniture, ladders, stairways or while leaningout of windows.

6. All paper airplanes should be considered experimental, and thus have anunpredictable flight path. Make sure the flying area is clear of delicatebreakables.

6. The instructions require the use of scissors. Children should only build thePaperang under adult supervsion.

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Contents

About This Document ........................................................... 2

Introduction .......................................................................... 4

A Paperang History .............................................................. 5

The Best Paper Airplane System in the World ...................... 7

Instructions ......................................................................... 11

Flying the Paperang ........................................................... 26

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airplane will fly better than one that hasbeen poorly designed.

My contribution is the realisation that foldedpaper is best thought of as a flexible mem-brane. Designs which take this property intoaccount, with shapes like hang gliders, havedistinct advantages over traditional paper‘darts’. The innovative breakthrough wasthe discovery of how a strong, near-perfecthang glider shape, complete with airfoilsection, swept back wings, and controlledwashout, can be produced from a singlepiece of paper. The design features of thePaperang are discussed in the chapter, TheBest Paper Airplane System in the World.

Having explained the background to thePaperang, the rest of the document is de-voted to fully illustrated instructions onmaking and flying the Paperang.

Should you have any problems building orflying the Paperang, please send me an E-mail. My E-mail address is available fromthe website (see URL below).

Edmond Hui, London, 3 September 1998

IntroductionThis Adobe Acrobat pdf document describesthe Paperang, a high performance, easy tomake, precision-engineered paper airplanesystem. The Paperang itself was invented in1977. Since then, it has been the subject of abook and much media attention, the story ofwhich is described in the next chapter, APaperang History.

I believe that paper airplane design andflight forms a unique part of the world ofaviation. It’s the cheapest way to make anaircraft, it’s probably the most commonform of aviation, there are probably moremanufacturers of paper airplanes than anyother type, it involves the least danger… thelist of superlatives go on. The essence ofpaper aviation is that anyone can be in-volved, the airplane can be built quickly, thematerials are always to hand, and the resultsgive much enjoyment at little risk.

What’s interesting is that paper airplanes flyin the same air as the most sophisticated jetaircraft, and obey the same laws of aerody-namics. A well designed and made paper

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A Paperang History1977 The InventionI had just qualified as a hang glider instruc-tor, and was keen to create some form offlying model which would demonstrate in-doors how the real gliders would soon carrymy students into the sky outdoors. A paperairplane seemed a natural choice. If I coulddesign and make a paper airplane based onhang gliders, the trainees could each form areally personal understanding of the aerody-namics that their lives would soon dependon, and have alot of fun at the same time.

I discovered how to create a near-perfecthang glider shape, with efficient, taperedspars supporting perfectly straight leadingedges; this structure in turn supportingclean, airfoil sectioned wings. I tried tolaunch it in my small room, but it stalledheavily and hit the floor. There seemed noparticular merit in the way it failed to fly. Atthat moment, a friend came in, saw that theshape was right, and suggested we went tothe indoor badminton court to try it. Whenwe launched it there, the effect was electri-fying. The natural flying speed of what

would later be named the Paperang turnedout to be about twice that of ordinary dartshaped paper airplanes.

1984 The NameMy wife Sandra coined the name Paperang,because it looked like a boomerang, and wasmade of paper.

1987 First PublicationMy book Fold it -Fly it was published,closely followed by the American edition,Amazing Paper Planes. It sold well, andAmazing Paper Planes is still in print today.You can buy it at www.amazon.com.

1992 RediscoveryI telephoned the Independent newspaper inEngland on a Friday, and hit what must havebeen a slow news day. I described this‘revolutionary paper airplane’ over thephone, and faxed instructions on how tomake one to the science reporter. A cheercame over the phone– the reaction of thenews room when the Paperang flew. Theywere so impressed, they published a storyabout it on the front page, October 19 1992-‘Stealth bomber moves into the realm of

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paper darts’. It’s probably the only time I’llever make the front page of a national news-paper.

There followed a full page article in theDaily Mail, and an interview on the BBCworld service. Amazingly, my publisherrefused to reprint the British edition of Foldit-Fly it, which was by now out of print. TheIndependent was besieged by requests forinstructions on how to make the Paperang,and together we produced a poster withinstructions on how to make one variant ofthe Paperang. The royalties from the sale ofthat poster almost equaled those of the ear-lier book.

1998 Flying in CyberspaceNew technology now allows me to create aPaperang website with downloadable pdffiles. The Paperang has waited 21 years forthe right medium for publication- it hasliterally come of age. The internet allowsme to reach an audience of millions, with abetter product than the original book, and ata much lower price to the customer.

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The Best Paper Air-plane System in theWorldAerodynamic advantages of thePaperang:

• Keeps its design shape through a greatspeed range– stable in pitch, roll andyaw.

• Accurate and efficient airfoil shapecreated naturally from its construction.

• Glide ratios of up to 15 achievable.• Versatile design: variables allow you to

experiment with weight, wing area,sweepback, and airfoil section.

• Paperangs can be optimised for speed,glide angle, sink rate, or aerobatics.

I believe the Paperang has the best combina-tion of glide angle, minimum sink rate, sta-bility, and performance whether flown athigh or low airspeeds of any paper airplane.Its construction method bars it from mostcompetitions, and its very efficiency makesit unsuited to competition tasks- throw it

hard and it will loop! Throw it very hard andit will do double and even triple consecutiveloops- this is proof of strong and efficientdesign, but not useful in competitions fordistance and time in the air. But if competi-tions measured ability to fly in a straightline (a test of accuracy and stability), orglide angle or sink rate during a steady glide(measures of aerodynamic efficiency), thenI am confident that the Paperang would befound to be better than any other existingdesign in the world.

The Paperang is not designed for competi-tion or for record breaking. Competitionsand records normally depend on the strengthand skill of the human competitor, as well asthe ability of the paper airplane to cope witha powerful launch at high speed, followedby a transition into a steady glide. Any com-petition design is a compromise betweenperformance during the launch, transitionand glide phases. Successful competitionairplanes are great designs, but may notnecessarily be best for day to day flying.

Designing the PaperangThe paperang was designed without compe-

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tition compromises. The only assumptionswere that a great paper airplane should havethese properties:

• It can be built quickly from paper andnormal office stationery materials

• Its performance should be measured interms of gliding efficiency, stability,and reliability; irrespective of pilotskill.

• It must be easy and fun to fly

The major problem in paper airplane designis not aerodynamic efficiency- it’s stability.Without stability, efficient aircraft just flyefficiently into the ground. To be stable, anaircraft has to have flying surfaces shaped toreturn it to a steady glide after it has beendisturbed by turbulence. It has to be strongenough to keep that shape during launch andthroughout the flight, and over many flights.

Paper is flexible. When folded, it’s strongalong the direction of the fold, but weak atright angles to the fold. This is a crucialweakness for most paper airplanes, whichhave a useless V-shaped centre section or‘fuselage’. The center longitudinal fold ac-

tually weakens the wings, making themlikely to flap when launched and distortduring flight. It’s impossible for suchairplanes to be reliably stable. With higherperformance, accurate flying surfaces be-come much more important and creating abetter paper airplane is as much about creat-ing structural strength to support the sur-faces as it is about the aerodynamics ofthose surfaces.

The Paperang solves these problems byborrowing from hang glider design. It’s a‘flying wing’ and has no fuselage. Theswept- back wings are very strong, espe-cially in the centre section.

Flying wings made of flexible surfaces arenot new- hang gliders evolved fromRogallo’s designs for NASA re-entry vehi-cles, and Malayan kites have been using thesame basic configuration for hundreds ofyears.

In aerodynamic terms, a flexible membranecan be made into a stable flying wing if it isaproximately delta- shaped, and stiffened byspars along the centreline and leading edges.

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This three-sparred support forms the wingsurface into a double cone shape, whichhappens to have the three basic require-ments for efficient, stable, flying wings:sweep back, washout, and a curved airfoilsection.

My contribution to paper airplane design isto realise that hang glider ‘Rogallo’ shapescan be achieved easily with a single sheet ofpaper. It’s called the Paperang, and is basedon these innovations:

1. A centreline cut. I know of no other paperplane design which has a cut along thecenterline starting from the front edge of thepaper. This cut makes possible the produc-tion of strong, swept back, tapered sparsoverlapping in the centre.

2. The wing is strengthened by a staplethrough the centre of the airplane. Thislocks the spars into position, and grips theflying surface to the spars while allowingminimal movement for trim adjustments.The wing upper surface is attached to thespars naturally at the leading edge fold, andto the centreline by the staple. This arrange-

ment defines an accurate double conicalshape, automatically generating an airfoilsection, sweepback, and washout.

3. A trailing edge cut to an efficient hangglider-like shape.

The Paperang, the result of these innova-tions, is therefore not a single, set-in-stonedesign– it is a paper airplane system. Theinstructions in this document show the mak-ing of a ‘self-templating’ version which iseasy to build, since all the folds are made bylining up existing edges of the paper. Thismethod creates an accurate, repeatable,‘middle of the road’ Paperang. But thePaperang innovations allow you to makeinfinitely variable designs that are optimisedfor different parts of the performance enve-lope- a shorter centreline cut (with appropri-ate adjustments in the other folds) decreasesthe nose angle, increases stability, reducesflying speed and improves sink rate. In-creasing the length of the cut improves glideangle to a certain point, after which the re-duced sweepback makes the design unsta-ble. The shape of the trailing edge deter-mines wing area and therefore wing loading

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and natural flying speed. The combinationof leading edge spar and trailing edge shapedetermine the flying characteristics of anyPaperang. The ability to vary all of thesecharacteristics make it the perfect platformfor aerodynamic experiments.

EfficiencyThe Paperang achieves its remarkable effi-ciency both passively (by having no unnec-essary drag inducing features such as a fuse-lage or tail) and actively by having an effi-cient airfoil section, which is formed natu-rally by the hang glider shape. Indeed as faras I know, it is the only paper airplane de-sign which has a carefully controlled airfoilsection, rather than a ‘flat plate’ section.Wings are more efficient if they have a high‘aspect ratio’, i.e. are long and thin. ThePaperang has the highest aspect ratio wingsof any paper aiplane I know, and the under-lying strength to hold such wings in an effi-cient shape.

I have measured the glide angle of standardPaperangs at about 10, really well ‘tweaked’ones at up to 15. This brings it into the sameperformance envelope as many full-sizedaircraft.

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InstructionsStep 1Use light paper: 80g per m2 or lighter by preference, not more than 100g per m2. In England, the best paper is sold as ruled writing pads,and is lighter and more resilient than photocopier or laser paper.

Fold the paper along the centreline

Cen

trel

ine

Front Edge

Sid

e ed

ge

Sid

e ed

geDesign Note: To be efficient, aircraft have to have long, thin ‘high aspect ratio’ wings.The first step in making the Paperang works towards this by defining the long axis ofthe paper as the wingspan, unlike ordinary paper ‘darts’ which have the wingspanalong the short axis.

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Cen

trel

ine

Front Edge

Fold a triangular flap down so that one of the front edges meets the centreline.Make the crease along the dotted line.

Step 2Design Note: In each of the steps, the first diagram shows the result of the previous step, whilst thesecond shows the result of the instruction in the current step. The grey feature, if shown, is the partwhich has moved to a new position, with free edges shown curved if this improves clarity.

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Repeat with the other flap in the opposite direction, again making sure that the front edge meets the centreline

Step 3

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Fold this edge forwards along the dotted lineto meet the crease you've just created.

Repeat for the other side.

Step 4

Design Note: Try and make the folds as accurately aspossible. This version of the Paperang is ‘self-templating’,meaning that each fold lines up naturally against anotherfold or edge. You should be aiming to make thewings perfectly symmetrical to the naked eye.

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Hold the wingtips together and cut both along the dotted line from the tips to the centre

centre

line

Cu

t do

wn

the

cen

trelin

ein

the

dire

ction

of th

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rrow

Stop the cut here

Step 5

Design Note: This is one of the steps that makes thePaperang unique. The centerline cut makes it possible forthe spars to overlap in the middle of the wing for strength.The curved cut in the trailing edge removes paper thatcannot be accurately supported by the spars, increasingthe aspect ratio at the same time. Use the full sized tem-plates on the following page to help you cut the trailingedge.

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US Letter

A4

Step 6

Design Note: Use these templates according toyour paper size. Remember that A4(297 x 210mm, a European standard size)works better if available, simply because it makes a bigger Paperang. Greatestaccuracy is achieved if you hold thewingtips together and cut them,from the tips to the centrewith sharp scissors.

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Make the fold as shown.

Line up with edge created in previous step

Step 7

Design Note: With this step, you are build-ing up the tapered spars that give thePaperang its remarkable strength.

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Repeat previous step in the other direction, making sure all edges line up.

Step 8

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Fold the completedleading edge spar downon this side

Step 9

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Repeat the other side.

Step 10

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Fold the little tab over on this side, but not the other.Spread the wings apart as shown in the next step.

Step 11

Design Note: The triangular flaps created in this (shownin grey) and the next step are optional. To make a lighterPaperang, you can cut them off.

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Open out the wing.

This flap comes over the top.

Step 12

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Tuck the little tab underneath the other one, creasing along this line.

Step 13

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Staple through the whole Paperang in the position shown. Note this diagramshows the underside of the Paperang.

Step 14

Design Note: The performance of aPaperang is determined by its shape whenyou staple it. Please make sure that all thefolds are equally flattened, and that bothwings are straight and symmetrical. Placethe Paperang in the jaw of the stapler andgrip lightly. Check everything is in align-

ment again before finally stapling throughfrom the top surface down. (Note abovediagram is the view from below.) Use agood quality stapler and staples– sometimesthe economy types will not fasten properlywith both prongs.

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Hold the Paperang by the staple in both hands, nose pointing away from you, thumbs below and forefingers above.Sighting from behind, check that the curve, or billow, in the wings is symmetrical.If one wing is curved and the other flat, ease the wing top surface towards the flatter side. The staple allows some adjustment.

Step 15Design Note: When you aresatsified that the wings are sym-metrical, bend the staple into aslight V shape to give thePaperang a little ‘dihedral’, thatis, so that the wingtips are held afew millimetres higher than thecenter section. This improves thestability of the Paperang.

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Flying the PaperangThe long, thin wings of the Paperang allowit to fly much further than other paperairplanes, but it requires careful trimmingand launching because there is no V-shapedcentre section for you to hold.

Handle the Paperang by its strong centresection only. For the first flights, use a large,draught-free indoor space such as a basket-ball court. The average Paperang has a glideratio of about 10, so from a shoulder - highlaunch you can expect a 10-15m flight whenproperly trimmed.

LaunchHold the Paperang from behind using yourthumb below and forefinger above, by thestaple. Keep the wings level and nosepointed slightly downwards. If you openyour thumb and forefinger wide when yourelease it, you will avoid brushing the trail-ing edge of the wing as you launch, whichcan spoil the flight.

The goal is to launch at the Paperang’s natu-ral flying speed, which you will be able to

judge after a few tries. It flies a little fasterthan you would expect.

If you have built it accurately, it will fly in abeautifully straight line, to come to a slidingstop more than 10 metres away (about dou-ble the distance that a paper dart would flyif launched from the same height). If itdoesn’t do this, it should be trimmed.

TrimmingGo back to step 13 and check carefully thatthe wings are symmetrical. If not, gentlyease the wing surface at the staple in thedirection of the flatter wing. If you havedifficulty, and the Paperang turns in differ-ent directions after successive adjustments,bend the staple more, so that the wingtipsare higher than the centre section. (This is

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called increasing the dihedral).

If the Paperang is flying straight but dives,give it more dihedral– this has the additionaleffect of creating more ‘billow’ in thewings, which in turn should cure the dive. Ifthe Paperang is stalling, flatten the billow bygently flattening the leading edge fold.

If the Paperang doesn’t respond well tothese trim adjustments, build another ratherthan persevering with trim adjustments. Itdoesn’t take long. Remember that accuratefolding is the key to Paperang performance,and this comes only with practice.

AerobaticsOnce you’ve trimmed your Paperang, ex-periment with its aerobatic abilities! If youlaunch it firmly, with the wings banked, itwill fly in a circle and come back to yourhand. If you launch it hard with wings level,it will loop! Try holding it by the nose infront of you, pointing vertically upwardswith the upper surface facing away fromyou. Launch upwards.

I hope you enjoy the Paperang. Please checkback at the website (see address below)regularly for new developments in Paperangdesign and flying.