Editing Paper plane (section)

==Advanced paper gliders==
===Developments===
Paper gliders have experienced three forms of development in the period 1930–1988:
* High flight performance
* Scale modeling
* Use of CAD software

Ongoing development of folded/origami gliders over the same period has seen similar sophistication,
including the addition of the following construction refinements
* Increased fold-count, sometimes of an intricate nature
* Explicit [[kirigami]] (cutting of paper) as a component of design
* Requirements for additional ballast to ensure flight performance

===Technological introductions===
Technology responsible<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-12-15 |title=Creating precision architectural drawings with CAD drafting software |url=https://www.3ds.com/store/cad/cad-drafting-software |access-date=2024-12-17 |website=Dassault Systèmes |language=en}}</ref> for the proliferation of advanced paper plane construction:
* Inexpensive CAD software for 2D part design
* Widespread manufacture, and inexpensive nature of acetal air-annealed glues, e.g. [[Bostik]] Clear-bond.
* Inexpensive ink and laser computer printers, for accurate aircraft part reproduction
* The advent of the Internet, and widespread information sharing

===Material considerations===
Compared to [[balsa]] {{nowrap|wood{{tsp}}{{mdash}}{{tsp}}another}} material commonly used to fabricate model {{nowrap|planes{{tsp}}{{mdash}}{{tsp}}paper's}} density is higher; consequentially, conventional [[origami]] paper gliders (see above) suffer from higher drag, as well as imperfectly aerodynamic wing chords.

However, unlike balsa gliders, paper gliders have a far higher strength-to-thickness ratio: {{citation needed span|date=August 2021|a sheet of office-quality 80&nbsp;g/m<sup>2</sup> [[photocopier]]/{{shy}}[[laser printer]] paper, for example, has approximate in-scale strength of aircraft-grade [[aluminium]] [[sheet metal]], while card stock approx{{shy}}imates the properties of steel at the scale of paper model aircraft.}}

===Directions in advanced paper aircraft design===
Unmodified origami paper aircraft have very poor [[glide ratio]]s, often not better than 7.5:1 depending on construction and materials. Modification of origami paper gliders can lead to marked improvements in flight performance, at the cost of weight and often with the inclusion of aerodynamic and/or structural compromises. Often, increases in [[wing loading]] can encourage breakdown of laminar flow over a wing with a hybrid of origami and glued and taped construction.

Professors Ninomiya and Mathews 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.

At present, the work of the two professors remains the last serious research work on improving the flight performance of paper model gliders.
Collaborative work by enthusiasts through online forums and personal websites are mostly developments of these original glider types.

In the field of scale model design, there are at present many possibilities for advanced design. Profile gliders encounter a limitation for improvement of flight performance based on their wing types, which are typically curved-plate aerofoils. In addition, fuselages are either balsa-paper or paper laminates, prone to warping or breakage over a very short time.
Improvement in performance is possible through modelling three-dimensional fuselages which encourage laminar flow, and in internally braced wings which can then have high-lift aerofoil profiles, such as the [[Clark Y]] or [[NACA]] 4 or [[NACA airfoil#6-series|6 series]], for high lift.

===White Wings===
[[File:N-424 Paper Plane.gif|thumb|Ninomiya's "N-424" design from ''Jet Age Jamboree'' (1966). The glider fuselage is constructed from several laminations of paper glued together. The wings are of two laminations, and the tailplane and tailfin of a single lamination.]]
In Japan in the late 1960s, Professor [[Yasuaki Ninomiya]] designed an advanced type of paper aircraft, which were published in two books, ''Jet Age Jamboree'' (1966) and ''Airborne All-Stars'' (1967). Designs from these books were later sold as the 'White Wings' Series of paper glider packs from the 1970s to the present day.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Owen |first=Thomas |date=September 23, 1988 |title=LIGHT FLIGHT |work=[[The Christian Science Monitor]] |issn=0882-7729 |id={{ProQuest|1034592633}}}}</ref>

White Wings are a stark departure from conventional paper aircraft, in that their [[fuselage]]s and wings are paper templates cut and glued together. They were designed with the aid of low-speed aerodynamic engineering design principles. Construction of the models is of Kent paper, a grade of cartridge paper sold in Japan.

The early models were explicitly hand drawn, but by the 1980s these had their parts drafted with the use of [[CAD software]].

Ninomiya's designs also included, for the first time in any paper model, working propellers driven by airflow, in particular for his profile scale models of the [[Cessna Skymaster]] and [[Piaggio P.136]] of 1967. Noteworthy as well was the careful design of gliders so that they could fly without ballast – his [[F-4 Phantom II]] model is able to be flown immediately without recourse to paperclips etc.

The high performance gliders have fuselages that are kept rigid by the use of a [[balsa]] fuselage profile bonded to the paper components. The paper used is quite heavy, approximately twice the weight of standard drawing cartridge paper, but lighter than lightweight cardboard. Original White Wings were entirely paper, requiring patience and skill. Later however, balsa-wood fuselages were used, and White Wings were sold "pre-cut", making construction easier. The [[aerofoil]] used is a Göttingen 801 (curved plate), and a pattern is supplied as a cutout part of each kit.

===Paper Pilot===
In 1984, Professor E.H. Mathews, lecturer in Thermodynamics at the [[University of the Witwatersrand]], South Africa published his first compendium of high-performance model aircraft. This book was ''Paper Pilot'' (Struik, 1984). This book was very successful, leading to additional volumes, ''Paper Pilot 2'' (1988), ''Paper Pilot 3'' (1991), ''12 Planes for the Paper Pilot'' (1993) and ''Ju 52'', a stand-alone book featuring a scale model. Unpublished models include an Airbus A320 scale model much like the Ju 52, seen on the ''Tekkies'' youth program in 1996.

The books featured patterns of parts printed on lightweight cardstock, to give the aircraft good flight penetration performance for long-distance flight.

Public interest in the gliders, and their publishing success, allowed some of the development to be broadcast on South African television during 1988 on the first book's release, and again 1993, to coincide with a national paper aeroplane competition tied to Paper Pilot 3's release. Aerodynamic design of the gliders was achieved making use of an optimised small wind tunnel - the flat-glider Britten Norman Trislander was filmed in this facility, with weight balances being used to demonstrate the optimisation of flight. The design of parts of the gliders was achieved using [[Autodesk AutoCAD]] R12, then the most advanced version of this CAD software, and one of the first publicly available paper model aeroplanes designed using this technology.

Construction of the gliders closely parallels that used in the White Wings series of gliders of Dr. Ninomiya for flat gliders. Later gliders with three-dimensional fuselages use a lightweight construction optimised for flight performance. Innovations include functional wheeled undercarriage which does not contribute to the drag budget while permitting good landings.

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. Most in initial editions are equipped with catapult hook patterns, and demonstrate an ability to fly the length of a Rugby pitch when so launched.

Later editions and gliders were equipped with a [[bungee hook]], the construction of which was included in ''Paper Pilot 3'' and ''12 Planes for the Paper Pilot''. The bungee system publish parallels, at a smaller scale, the practice used in radio controlled and full-size sailplane launches, at a fraction of the cost and complexity. To date, this is the only known example of such a launch system applied to a paper model aeroplane type published in book form. 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.

===Paper helicopters (autogyros)===
The world's first known published paper autogyro (engineless helicopter) by Richard K Neu appeared in "The Great International Paper Airplane Book" published in 1967. Its wings fly in a circle around a central ballast shaft as it descends vertically.<ref>Jerry Mander, George Dippel, Howard Gossage (1967), "The Great International Paper Airplane Book", {{ISBN|978-06-7121-129-5}}</ref> This basic design has been published several times and is widely known.{{citation needed|date=December 2024}}

The world's first known published forward-gliding paper autogyro with forward-pointing body lifted by spinning blades was built by James Zongker. It appears on page 53 of "The Paper Airplane Book: The Official Book of the Second Great International Paper Airplane Contest" published in 1985 by Science Magazine. Its twin contra-rotating blades automatically spin on paper axles upon launch to provide lift.

E.H. Mathews developed a flight-stable paper model helicopter known as the Papercopter. This has a ring wing, and flaps for adjusting for flight for stability, positioned on the inboard edge of the ring. While not an autogyro per se, this paper model aircraft class falls within the general design of a paper model helicopter, and does possess a rotational flight element producing lift during forward flight. Papercopters, as Professor Mathews labeled them, are unique among paper model rotorcraft in having a range and velocity far in excess of all other classes, able to fly quite quickly, and with a range of between 10 and 15&nbsp;m. The longest flight time is 27.9 seconds.<ref name=Toda>{{cite news|last=Ryall|first=Julian|title=Japanese man sets record for paper plane flight|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/5344958/Japanese-man-sets-record-for-paper-plane-flight.html|access-date=15 October 2012|newspaper=The Telegraph|date=18 May 2009}}</ref>

===World records===
There are multiple goals for a flight:
* Distance (javelin throwing).
* Time (javelin throwing straight up with subsequent metamorphosis into a [[Glider (sailplane)|sailplane]]).
* Aerobatic (looping).
* Stable [[flight]] to understand flight mechanics of a good plane.

For every goal there is a typical plane and sometimes a world record.<ref>{{cite web|author=Ken Blackburn |url=http://www.paperplane.org |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20011126212533/http://paperplane.org/ |url-status=usurped |archive-date=November 26, 2001 |title=Paper Airplanes |publisher=Paperplane.org |date=2005-03-19 |access-date=2009-06-22}}</ref>

[[Image:International contest paper glider.svg|A contest-winning paper glider.|right|thumb]]
There have been many attempts over the years to break the barriers of throwing a paper plane for the longest time aloft. [[Ken Blackburn (aeronautical engineer)|Ken Blackburn]] held this [[Guinness World Record]] for 13 years (1983–1996) and had regained the record in October 1998 by keeping his paper plane aloft for 27.6 seconds (indoors). This was confirmed by Guinness officials and a CNN report.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/US/9810/08/fringe/paper.airplanes |title=Engineer's record-breaking hopes sail on paper wings – October 8, 1998 |publisher=CNN |date=1998-10-08 |access-date=2009-06-22}}</ref> The paper plane that Blackburn used in this record breaking attempt was a "[[Glider (sailplane)|glider]]". {{As of|March 2023}}, Takuo Toda (Japan) holds the world record for the longest time in air (29.2 seconds) in Fukuyama City, Hiroshima, Japan, on 19 December 2010.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Longest flying paper aircraft- duration |url=https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/longest-time-flying-a-paper-aircraft/ |access-date=2023-03-03 |website=Guinness World Records |language=en-gb}}</ref> The current distance record, as of February 2023, is 88.318 m (289&nbsp;ft 9 in) achieved by Dillon Ruble (USA), with the support of Nathaniel Erickson and Garrett Jensen (both USA) in Crown Point, Indiana, USA, on 2 December 2022.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Farthest flight by a paper aircraft |url=https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/farthest-flight-by-a-paper-aircraft |access-date=2023-02-27 |website=Guinness World Records |language=en-gb}}</ref>