If we didn't have such a thing as an airplane today, we would probably create something the size of NASA to make one. --H. Ross Perot

November 10, 2003 10:09 AM

Paperplane.org: Ken Blackburn holds the World Record for time aloft for a paper airplane. Visit his site to read how he did it, the history of paper airplanes, read some competitive airplane flying rules, and learn to fold some new airplane designs of your own.
posted by anastasiav (6 comments total)

Dude I bet he's a total nerd.
posted by xmutex at 10:39 AM on November 10, 2003

Well, aren't we all... We participate in an online community weblog, after all.

I'm amazed at how he has managed to structure a life where all he does is play with toys.
posted by mtstover at 10:53 AM on November 10, 2003

Don't forget Joseph Palmer's planes. They have wonderful flight dynamics and are dead easy to fold, especially PL-1, "Joe's Favorite" (only a couple of folds away from the same old "dart" plane we've all been folding since grade school). Perfect for sending gently across the top of a cubicle farm; by the time it lands (in someone's ear), it's travelled so far as to be practically untraceable. (Unless you, you know, make a plane out of scrap paper with your name printed on it, in which case, well, you deserve to be caught.)

["I do a lot more than design paper airplanes, you know." Joe worked at Be, Inc., a long, long time before I did; he currently works for Danger, maker of the Sidekick (née Hiptop), and is personally responsible for the award-winning swiveling display design. So, you know, no slouch.]
posted by dsandl at 1:31 PM on November 10, 2003

I used to make paper airplanes based on real life models.

This usually required a very heavy nose for any WWI or WWII plane, since they were designed to have the engine up front. They flew quite well, but you had to throw from the nose.

I used tape for the wings (my wings would be folded, the folded side up front, with the top flap larger than the bottom flap to simulate an actual wing), and for the tail and cockpit.
posted by linux at 2:07 PM on November 10, 2003

obligatory paper plane flash game link. is this a self link?
posted by twine42 at 2:59 PM on November 10, 2003

I was slightly disappointed when I realized he meant those tiny paper planes and not some giant plane made out of paper that a human could ride.
posted by soren at 3:13 PM on November 10, 2003