Controllable Slope Soaring

So...another thread I posted on the farthest paper airplane flight indoor world record being broken got me to thinking and researching paper airplanes and I found some really interesting links and videos. I am going to try some of these out with my kids this weekend for fun and to get them interested in science and simple physics/technology.

This website has a wealth of knowledge on the subject and there are numerous videos on it as to how to make the slope soaring airplanes as well as controlling them. Fascinating to me and I am sure the kids will think it is magic.

If I can I will make a video of them trying and post it up.

Anyone here ever done this? The first video below is a quick and easy tumblewing to try out.


Tumblewing Slope Soaring



Oragami Paperwing Slope Soaring

Hard to believe nobody here has tried this. I will all weekend!

Yeah. I've done it. It's great.

I used to work air cargo (ground crew) and between flights I spent quite a bit of time in the warehouse doing exactly that. I made some gliders that were efficient enough to do away with the cardboard and just use my body.

Originally posted by Phage
Yeah. I've done it. It's great.

I used to work air cargo (ground crew) and between flights I spent quite a bit of time in the warehouse doing exactly that. I made some gliders that were efficient enough to do away with the cardboard and just use my body.

Very cool. How long did it take you to learn to do without cardboard? It doesn't seem that it would take long but the videos and posts I've read seem to suggest otherwise.

reply to post by Vasa Croe

I applied what I'd learned about hang glider design to making paper gliders. I used a basic hang glider planform (outline shape) and put a slight roll (using a pencil) along the leading edge to give it a bit of an airfoil (single surface) shape. I used pieces of tape (very small pieces or even a staple or two) at the nose to adjust the center of gravity so that it was forward of the nose-tail center.

The real trick is in twisting the trailing edge upwards at the wing tips. When done just right you get a nice even twist across the trailing edge, higher at the tip and reducing toward the "keel". This is how you tune the glider. If it nose dives you add a bit of twist, if it stalls you take some away. If the twist is uneven from side to side the glider will turn.

The smaller and lighter you can make it the easier it is to walkalong. I got to using cigarette papers eventually but they didn't last long, the humidity gets to them and they droop.

Here's a place to start but you can refine it a lot as you start to understand what's going on. You don't really need the canard (little wing in the front)
www.instructables.com...

A planform something like this is more efficient, but harder to tune.
www.willswing.com...

Launching them is also tricky. You don't throw it. You let it rest between (and on top of) your thumb and first finger (held horizontally) and slowly accelerate it forward. At the right time (comes with practice) you drop your hand out from under it. You need to perfect this technique before you consider the walkalong part.

Once you get the "hang" of it, it's hard to quit fooling around with them.

reply to post by Phage


Very informative post and much appreciated. Hadn't even thought about cigarette papers. Do you suggest doing the tumblewing first like the site, or would you suggest other?

reply to post by Vasa Croe

I never made a tumblewing.

Originally posted by Phage
reply to post by Vasa Croe

 

I never made a tumblewing.

Gotcha....watching the videos it just seemed to be the "starter" design. Many thanks! Hoping to get the hang of it quickly myself and have some fun around the office as well.