Paper Airplane Physics | Paper aeroplane tricks & facts

“When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.”

Yes, it’s true every aircraft faces against the wind to take off. Sometimes it’s a gusty wind, sometimes heavy like a hurricane. But the design is so aerodynamic that it can withstand some extreme levels.  Have you ever thought of making your own airplane? Even if you are making it with such perfection you’ll need to make some more changes to make it a better flyer which is called paper airplane physics.  That’s how every scientific invention becomes a better product.  The crazy thing is our regular aircraft are put into multiple levels of tests until it meets the expected performance.  Scientists and engineers make sure they are as perfect as their specifications and performance pattern which satisfies the perfect paper airplane physics.  

Similarly, paper airplanes are something that requires a number of tweaks and folds before succeeding as a design.  But we have to keep in mind that making a slight change in their paper airplane design leads to a major performance shift.  It’s like a tiny hole in the oxygen tanks of a rocket leads to destroying the entire rocket. 

Paper airplane physics – symmetry:

What is symmetry? Why do we need to make our paper planes symmetrical? Symmetry is nothing but if a shape or object is divided into half and if both pieces look similar it is called a symmetrical object.  After completing the whole design of your paper plane if their wing doesn’t match up – your design is non-symmetrical.  If they match up together they are asymmetrical.

Stalling:

Stalling is a major problem that occurrence in paper airplane physics and generally among most beginners.  Every one of us will come across the stalling problem in the initial stages of paper plane making.  Stalling is the act of a paper plane’s nose rising up instantly to a certain altitude and not getting a direction or movement.  Kids get upset by this instance happening to them – this is often a disappointment for young minds.  But, it pulls their attention to try more flying and to finally succeed.  How do I solve this problem?  Either we manage to add a decent weight to the nose of the paper plane design or add a paperclip to the frontal nose of the plane.  This compensates for/solves the paper airplane stalling problems.

Nosediving:

Nosediving is like a ballistic missile – throwing crushed paper into the air vertically 45 degrees with the small force it happens to create a semi-circle.  So, if your paper airplane has more nose weight, not symmetrical or improper folds in the wings leads to nosediving.  An improper design further ruins your paper airplane’s performance by damaging the nose during every fall.  How do I solve this problem?  You can reduce the nose weight by reducing the folds in the nose or by removing paper clips from the nose.  If it’s not helping another trick is to add a negative angle aileron to the wing.  Yeah!  That’s it.  Next, let us see about yawing.

Yawing:

Yawing is as if your paper plane has a handlebar just like your bike.  This happens to be like turning right or left and maintains to turn their angle continuously. They will never have a perfectly straight path trip and this is fun for most of us. This problem occurs because your paper plane’s fuselage is not proper – may be bent, a little crushed, or out of shape. Straighten the fuselage, check for dents, bends, and improper folds. If it’s not helping make a positive angle aileron at the opposite side of the turn. For example, if your plane turns right make a Positive aileron at the left. 

Now, observe the pattern of flying and adjust the charges accordingly. This is one of the best ways to counteract yawing. But yawing is not a bad act, sometimes if you are designing a paper airplane for stunts, yawing is one of the major tricks to perform stunts.

Shortfall flight:

If your plane falls like a stone to the ground, this is a shortfall. This is happening because of additional overweights in your plane. Reduce the additional weights once after and try tossing them on each weight reduction. You’ll know better than me when it is ready to fly. 

Barrel roll | Paper airplane roll:

Your plane makes circular rotations and moves forward till it drops, It is called the barrel roll effect. If this instance happens to your paper plane then you need to try out these techniques to solve the problem. If it’s not helping you can Simply call it a stunt plane. Cool! 

• Check for wing alignments like one wing is up and one is bent down.
• Try for a dihedral wing shape – this improves the lateral stability of your aircraft
• If you have made any aileron or tabs at the end of your design, you should take them away to avoid these.

Another point to add if you aren’t interested instead of doing all these steps simply fold your paper plane again. But this time with proper folds and symmetry.