Paper-Folding Airplane Building Instructions: I M P D

INNOVATION MANAGEMENT AND PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
Ass. Prof. Francesca Montagna
Paper-Folding Airplane Building Instructions

Introduction
This is a brief guide to building a paper-folding airplane and making it fly. Because of the
difficulty of some steps, additional details are provided in appendix. Each bullet point is marked
with a number referring to the exhibit.
For your business case purposes, remember that you can use the following paper plane model
or choose other versions or models according to your knowledge and personal remarks on
plane performance. During the business games you will be requested to design and prototype
different models of paper planes according to different objectives as: landing within a given
area at 5 meter distance, hitting a target placed on air at a 5 to 10 meter distance, crossing a
line 10 meters far from the launch step, flying for more than 5-8 seconds, etc.
Building Steps
1. Start with an ordinary sheet of 8 1/2" x 11" - 21.6 x 28 cm (U.S. standard writing paper size
otherwise, according to European standard, use an A4 paper size). The exact size is not
important, it should be rectangular and not square. The paper should be at least 20 Lb. (that is
at least 80g/m2) bond or copy paper
2. Fold over the left hand corner as shown
3. Crease
4. Result
5. Fold over the right hand corner
6. Crease
7. Result
8. Carefully close in the sides as shown.
9. Fold down the center line from front to back.
Case 3 Product Development Game

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10. Fold the resulting left hand tip up as shown

11. Crease along the bottom edge
12. Repeat the same procedure on the right section
13. Fold the left hand point back

14. Crease
15. Mirror the same folds on the right panel
16. Bend the left panel as shown

17. Crease from back to front only 2/3 of the way
18. Study photos 18 and 19 carefully. These folds are difficult to describe. Try to duplicate them
as shown in the photos
Note: additional instructions for steps 16, 17 and 18 are in Appendix 1.
19. Mirror the folds on the right

20. Turn the plane over and fold the point back and crease as shown
21. Turn the plane over again. The result should be similar to the photo

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22. Crease wing as shown

23. Moisten the crease with your tongue. Do this slowly and carefully or you could receive a
painful paper cut on your tongue
24. Carefully tear off strip of paper. Save the strip of paper because you are going to
need it to make the tail
25. To make the tail, fold down the center of the strip of paper to form a trough
Note: additional instructions for tail building are given in Appendix 2
26. Tear as shown to form control surfaces. The folds should be parallel with the bottom of the
trough
27. Fold wings up
28. Fold the right wing down as shown in photos 28 and 29. Take special care to angle this fold
in such a way so that the leading edge of the wing is slightly higher than the trailing edge
29. Study this photo and you will see that the fold is not exactly parallel with the trough at the
bottom but slightly angled as described in photo 28
30. The plane should look like this at this point
31. Bend the wingtips up

32. Insert tail into slot under wing
33. Mark your plane with an alpha-numerical code as follows: <team ID Category ID - plane
number>
If you are team 4 and are working on your third paper plane of category 2, youll sign: T4C2-3.
Paper planes without appropriate identification code wont be accepted by FAF officials

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34. Ready to fly!
Note: additional instructions for flying are in Appendix 3
Appendix 1 Detailed Instructions for Steps 16, 17

and 18
Fold the flap on the red line from point "A" to point "B".
This is the way the fold should
look after creasing. Notice that
the crease does not continue
beyond point "B".
The red arrow shows how the

flap is hinged.
Tuck the paper under the flap
like tucking a bedspread
under a pillow.
just
This is another view of how to

tuck the paper under the flap.
If you end up with a fold like this,
you have done it correctly.
This photo shows the same

series of folds on the other
side.
Another view showing the
finished folds.

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Appendix 2 The T-tail

In order to make your plane fly straighter, consider the T-tail. It is really useful to elt it glide
and, because of the larger tail area, it is easier to adjust flight characteristics by bending up or
down the trailing edge of the elevators.
Pros:
The elevators are kept out of the airflow behind the wings, resulting in a smoother air
flow, better pitch control especially when operating at low speeds.
This design is also well suited for aircraft with a rear mounted jet engine.
Cons:
Aircraft will tend to be much more prone to dangerous deep stall conditions, where
blocking of the airflow over the tail plane and elevators by a stalled wing can cause total
loss of pitch control.
The elevator surfaces are difficult to inspect from the ground.
For those who would like to experiment with the T-tail, folding instructions are below:
Fig 1 - After you complete step 24 of the paper airplane assembly instructions, you will have
a strip of paper used to make the tail. Fold the strip of paper down the center to form a trough,
and then open it up flat again. Mark with a pencil points A and B as shown using the same
dimensions indicated in Fig 1.
Fig 2 - Fold the fuselage into a V, then at point A, push the tail up at the angle shown and fold
it in such a was as to invert the V as shown at the top of the tail.

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Fig 3 - At point B, fold the tail down reversing the V as shown. This part of the tail should be
parallel with the fuselage.
Fig 4 - Tape the trailing edge of the rudder together as shown. Push the V shape elevator down
flat and crease the paper to make it hold the horizontal position.
Fig 5 - The completed tail can now be inserted into the paper airplane body, Step 32 of the
paper airplane instructions
Appendix 3 Instructions to Fly

Preflight inspection Before you fly the model plane for the first time you should examine it carefully looking directly
at the front and the rear. Just like a real airplane, the left and right side must be the same, that
is a mirror image of each other. If one wing is higher, then the other or the surfaces are not at
the same angle, or the tail is crooked, then the plane is likely to fly
poorly. Make any adjustments to correct these problems now.
Flight techniques
This is the fun part, learning to fly. The airplane can be launched with force or softly. Launching
it on a windy day directly into the breeze causes it to climb into a half barrel roll. For a second it
will fly upside down and then flip over and fly a long distance with the wind. On calm days you
can launch it gently horizontally. It has a long glide path and will
generally go in a straight line or go into a gentle curve.
Fine tuning
If you find that the plane is banking to the left or right, you can correct
this by experimenting with bends on the control surfaces. To gain extra
control, cut flaps on the rear edge of the wings and bend the flaps up or down as needed. You
can also try bending the wing tips down instead of up.

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The tail flaps can be bent up slightly if the plane tends to dive. All changes should be made
with small adjustments and then a test flight to analyze the change.
Make more than one model airplane. You will find that they all have
unique flight characteristics, no two are alike. Choose the one that flies
best and try to find out why it flies so well.
Try making really large versions of this plane using construction or
ledger paper. They fly just as well only higher and farther.
Appendix 4 Additional References

If you need additional information about how to build a paper plane and make it fly, please
Google it or even make some searches on You Tube for a video guide (e.g.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mn0PG796BPo)

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INNOVATION MANAGEMENT AND PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

Ass. Prof. Francesca Montagna