IT ALL started about twenty years ago, when, in my rebellious early teens, I decided to give the finger to the popular notion that a "paper airplane" necessitated a sleek, aeronautical "dart" design. An experiment in minimalism revealed that a plain sheet of paper, folded down the middle with a few folds on the front end, made for a beautiful glider when dropped from any substantial height. From there, the fun began:
My "Flying Biplane" prototype emerged from a desire to design the most awkward, unwieldy plane that could possibly achieve flight. The "Phaeton" model presented here accomplishes this nicely.
This model presents some solutions to the initial flaws of original designs. Paradoxically, these "solutions" present problems of their own: The most obvious is the stiffening fold on the leading edge of the rear wing. This keeps the rear wing from destabilizing in mid-flight. But, it turns out that the vibrations of the rear wing are actually a product of a stable, linear flight. By stabilizing the rear wing, this craft compensates by performing a sliding, yawing flight that is not altogether unpleasant or undesirable. The Phaeton is an interesting craft with infinite possibilities. Please let me know of any improvements/modifications you might discover.
I will include links to the original patterns for my designs as I post them, but I would encourage anyone who happens across this blog to post your own models.
http://www.zshare.net/download/59187499e6486b72/
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