The plane must be made of one sheet of A4 or letter size paper of less than 100 gsm weight. It may be cut, but the parts removed may not be reattached. You may use up to 25 mm by 30 mm of cellulose tape, cut or whole, to fasten folds, but for no other purpose.
the design of the aircraft is 33%, skill at building it is another 33%, and throwing technique is 33% too. That leaves 1% to unknown chance and the smile of fortune! (Though, more likely, it’s up to humidity.) The
John Collins was sure he had a great airplane. It flew straight and far, and a little tweaking, some very stiff paper and the careful use of tape made it even better. His problem was throwing it. When he put his strength into it, the plane fluttered and crashed. So he got a talented thrower to help him. Joe Ayoob had been a football quarterback. With a bit of training, he could make smooth flights that just ducked under the rafters of the hangar they used. And it was enough: on the day of the record attempt, the design, paper and throw all came together! 1
The first really big contest was Scientific American’s Great International Paper Airplane Contest in 1967. It started as a joke, when the editors suggested that the then brand new Concorde looked like a child’s paper airplane.
real planes usually have the center of gravity slightly ahead of the center of lift.
