Blackbird Paper Airplane

This is the dart plane that will get you sent to the principal's office faster than any other airplane. It is very accurate from short distances and it will fly very far. It works best indoors as it would be affected by wind if it were flown outdoors.

- Ruler
- Pencil
- Xacto Knife or Scissors*
- 8.5" X 11" paper

*exacto knife is more precise, and consequently it will cut cleaner edges

The resized sheet needs to be 5-3/4" X 11"

First fold the paper in half through the length of the sheet. Then make a mark 1-1/4" from the shorter side on both the lengthier sides. This will be the front end. At the back end, make a mark on the fold 1-5/8" from the edge. Make marks 1" from the edge on both sides. Draw a line from the 1-1/4" mark to the center crease of the top edge. Do this for both sides. Cut along this line with the scissors. Or, when using an xacto knife these two steps can be cut shorter by simply cutting the paper with the guidance of the ruler.

Fold from the 1" mark on the right side to the center crease of the top edge. (Ignore the extra creases in the pictures)

Fold away from the left side along center crease. Line it up with the point and the center crease.

Fold the right flap sticking out back to the center inline with crease from step 4. Repeat for left side.

Fold edge to edge on both sides. Do not fold the extra layers in the tip. This will be the two vertical stabilizers.

Make cuts from the 1" marks to the creases in step 8 then cut from the 1-5/8" mark to the same creases.

When pinching the underside of the plane together, the wings should be 120 degrees angled away from the underside(or close), like a pie chart split into thirds. My plane's wings are a little warped but you get the picture.

Folding to the middle first (then reverse folding) doesn't work as it will make the airplane less symmetrical and putting a higher percent of the weight in the front. It doesn't fold so nicely onto the marks I found that doing it in this manner created up to a 3/8" difference.

Dimensions can be messed around with a little. In example, the 1"mark can range from 1-3/8" to 0 (the point of the corner). The 1-5/8" mark can be whatever you like, but keep in mind this affects the balance and weight of the paper airplane.

Thanks for reading! Let me know what you changed and if it added distance or accuracy in the comments below.