The Vortex

This is a strange looking plane, but also flies as well as many more traditional designs.

Before the design, a word about how to throw this plane.....

The technique to throwing this plane is the same as you would use to throw a football (or rugby ball from a line out). The band is placed so it is at the front. When throwing, you should aim to get lots of spin on it, this is what keeps it stable in flight.

The plane tends to climb very fast when you first throw it, so you will find you have to throw it downwards, even towards the ground, to end up with a level, and long, flight.

A big advantage of this plane is that you can throw it with great force without adversely affecting its flight.

Anyway, here goes......

For this plane, you will need half a sheet of A4, cut length-ways. The best way to do this is to fold the paper in half as shown, to find the half way mark. Then cut or tear along this line.

Take the half of A4 and fold over a 1cm strip, from the side you have cut/torn.

Keep folding that fold over and over about 4 or 5 times, until the total width of the strip is about 3-4 cm.

Form the strip into a circle so the ends meet. This can be done by wrapping it around a thin cylinder, like a pen. You should then spend some time on smoothing out the circle, as the smoother it is, the better the flight.

Attach the ends together with sticky tape both inside and on the outside. The circle formed should be about 3 inches in diameter. The amount the ends overlap should be kept to a minimum, as the overlap causes an imbalance in flight. You will probably find that you have to cut the strip down to size to form the perfect plane. Using A4 size paper, I cut about 3-4 cm off, and then have a 1cm overlap or so.

It's also worth doing some more smoothing before you throw it, just to get things right.

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