The Square

This boxy paper plane is great for gliding through the air.

The Square

This boxy paper plane is great for gliding through the air.

Its wide stiff wings allow it to fly in a strong wind. It also likes to fly upside down.

Medium difficulty Letter & A4 Paper Requires scissors Distance Time aloft Measurements

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Steps

Video Guide

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Paper Airplane Folding Instructions

1. Fold the corners down to each side and unfold, making an X shape.

2. Fold the top down so the crease lines up with the center of the X.

3. Fold the top two corners to the center line.

4. Open up the previous steps and accordion fold the sides into the middle.

5. Fold the left and right points up to the top, as shown.

6. Fold the top down to the end of the triangle shape.

7. Fold the paper airplane in half towards you.

8. Fold out both sides to create the wings. The body should be about a 1/2 inch tall (1.3cm).

9. Finally, cut two small flaps at the tail of each wing.

Final Paper Airplane Design

Point the flaps down and throw slightly upwards and this paper airplane will flip upside down and return to you like a boomerang. Point the flaps up and throw hard to get a nice glide through the air.

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Video Instructions

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Printable Folding Instructions

These beautiful, easy to follow, paper airplane folding instructions can be downloaded and printed as many times as you want. Simply follow the printed instructions and fold along the indicated lines to make a perfect paper airplane, every time.

Sample Paper Airplane Printable Instructions

Sample Paper Airplane Printable Template

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Number of Folds	8
Distance Flown Average Distance Thrown by a 10yr old	24.3 ft / 7.4 m
Time Aloft Average Time Aloft Thrown by a 10yr old	1.9 sec

Convert to Imperial	Letter Paper
Length The distance from nose to tail	11.7 cm
Wingspan The longest distance from wingtip to wingtip	18.9 cm
Wing Chord The average length of the wing, from front to back	10.2 cm
Wing Area The area of all wing surfaces	192.3 cm²
Wing Loading The averaged weight carried by the wings	239.2 g/m²

The Wing Loading is how much of the paper airplane's weight is being lifted by each unit area of the wing's surface. In general, an airplane with a lower wing loading will glider better. A standard piece of 75gsm printer paper is used for all of these measurements across the website.

References

• The Worlds Greatest Paper Airplane and Toy Book

• Great Paper Airplanes

Of Interest

• Fold'N Fly Paper Airplane Book

• Motorized Propeller for Paper Airplanes

• Paper Airplane Launchers

• Foam Airplanes

• Balsa Wood Airplanes

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This paper airplane can be used to accomplish the challenging tasks in Level 1 of the Original Paper Airplane League. Progressively improve your paper airplane skills and climb the ranks of this online club.