1. By Cara Schildmeyer, Rachael Botsford, and Austen Sekerak
Paper Airplane Project
By Cara Schildmeyer, Rachael Botsford, and Austen Sekerak

2. “If you can think it, we can build it.”
Company Motto
“If you can think it, we can build it.”

3. Understand
To understand the project, we read this handout:

4. Explore
Then, we began researching paper plane designs on the internet and on Youtube to form a basis of knowledge
One of the sites we used:
Another site:

5. Define
In our research online for different paper airplane designs (and based on this paper airplane document: we formulated iseas for what the time and distance plane designs should look like
The planes designed for time had wider wings and were broader or square-shaped to provide plenty of thrust
The planes designed for distance were long and thin, with narrow wings and a pointed nose to allow for plenty of thrust, and little drag or lift

6. Define: Pictures
Distance Airplane
Time Airplane

7. Three of our time paper airplane prototypes are shown above
Ideate
We began to create rough models out of paper using the videos and websites from our research
There were plenty of models of each of the time and distance planes, which we narrowed down to only a few designs in the next step
Three of our time paper airplane prototypes are shown above

8. Ideate: Images
A combination of time and distance paper airplane prototypes shown to the right

9. Prototype
As we approached the final prototype, we tested all of our prototypes and narrowed it down to three distance plane designs that we compared
All were similar: They had narrow, pointed noses and were long and slender to allow for greater “thrust” (forward motion) with a dart-like effect
We tested these planes and chose the one that flew the farthest as the final prototype
Less focus on the time prototype
We tested the time planes and chose about four planes to test for our final prototype
They had larger wings and were more square-like to allow for plenty of thrust
We tested all of our planes and chose the designs that stayed in the air the longest and traveled the farthest

10. Prototype: Images
Final time paper airplane prototype shown to the left
Final distance paper airplane prototype shown to the right

11. Prototype compared to final models
Refine
Kept our large-scale designs almost identical
Only change: Adding three loops of masking tape in the half crease of both large-scale planes
This compensated for the larger surface area and weight of the plane, which caused it to separate at its midline
We didn’t test our planes until the actual trial
In the small-scale trials and other prototypes, the planes had crashed and the noses were destroyed, causing the planes to fail
Prototype compared to final models

12. Solution
Shown to the left is the full-scale model of the cardboard plane, the full-scale model of the floppy plane, and the paper prototype of the plane
These are the final models

13. Instructions for Building the Large-Scale Model
Fold in half hot-dog style (vertical) to have a midpoint.
Fold the top 2 corners down so they line up on the the first center fold. This will form the nose of the plane..
Fold the plane in half vertically again (on the original line) so that the flaps from step 3 are on the inside of the fold.
Now, fold each half of the flap down to the outside diagonally.
Repeat step 4 for each side of the plane.
Finally, perk up the flaps to fully expose the wings of the plane.
Large-scale distance airplane on the bottom

14. Data Tables Upscale Floppy Plane Data Upscale Cardboard Plane Data
Trial 1
Trial 2
Trial 3
Average
4.0 m
7.1 m
6.0 m
5.7 m
Upscale Cardboard Plane Data
Trial 1
Trial 2
Trial 3
Average
13.6 m
15.7 m
15.6 m m
14.97 m

15. Videos Video of the small prototype plane
Video of the large-scale cardboard plane