How To Fold The Monsoon Paper Airplane

 INSTRUCTIONS

This elegant wing design combines outstanding elements of the flying wing style to produce the best all around craft. Start with a letter size sheet of light to medium weight paper.

1. Fold the sheet exactly in half by bringing the short edges together. Make the crease and then unfold.

2. Bring the top edge down to the crease just formed to make a new crease parallel to the one just created. Unfold after making the crease.

3. Repeat the process with the bottom edge. Bring it up to the first crease created and make a new crease parallel to the first. Unfold the paper after making the crease. The sheet should now be divided evenly into quarters.

4. Position the sheet so that the creases you have made are vertical.

5. Form a new crease by bringing the upper right hand corner of the sheet down. The left end of this new crease should hit the upper left corner exactly. The upper right corner should lie directly over the right-most vertical crease line.

6. Open the flap just created and make an identical one by bringing down the upper left corner. As before, the right end of the new crease should hit the upper right corner exactly and the upper left corner should lie directly over the left-most vertical crease.

7. Open the flap just created and turn the sheet over from left to right. The diagonal creases just formed should be toward the top.

8. Make a new crease by bringing down the top edge of the paper. This new crease should be parallel to the edge of the paper and go exactly through the meeting point of the two diagonal creases created earlier. Open the flap to expose the new crease.

9. Turn the sheet over from right to left and prepare to reverse fold some of the flaps.

10. Fold down the top flap again but this time bring up the edges of the sheet where the crease meets them. All the creases are in the proper direction so the flaps should come in naturally as shown. Press all creases down flat.

11. Open the flap at the top layer on the left to form a large triangle. Press down to create a new crease in line with the existing crease which created this flap.

12. Do the same thing on the right side. Bring the top layer down by opening the flap. This creates a crease in the layer beneath.

13. Turn the sheet over from left to right. The pointed side should be away from you toward the top.

14. Form a new horizontal crease by bringing the pointed tip down towards you. The new crease should be parallel to the bottom edge of the sheet and the ends should hit th edge exactly where the diagonal folds do. Make the crease as tight as possible through all layers.

15. Bring the upper right corner down to form a new crease. The right end of this new crease should hit the lower right corner exactly. The left end of this crease should hit the vertical guide crease created near the beginning of the folding.

16. Do the same on the left side. Bring the upper left corner down to form a new crease. The left end of this new crease should hit the lower left corner exactly. The right end of this crease should hit the vertical guide crease created near the beginning of the folding.

17. Fold the top edge downward to form a new flap. This flap should just cover the downward pointed flap beneath it. The crease should be parallel to the bottom edge. There are many layers so press hard and make the crease as tight as possible.

18. Turn the plane over and position it so that the side with all the flaps is toward the left.

19. Fold the plane in half along the existig center line crease. Make sure all edges line up.

20. Position the plane so that the center line crease is toward you and the wing tips are pointing away.

21. Bring the top layer down to form the first main wing crease. The right end of this crease should be about one finger width above the center line crease. The left end of this crease should be about two finger widths above it.

22. Fold the wing tip back up along the line of the existing guide crease. There are many layers near the front edge of the wing which do not have this crease. Press all the layers as tight as possible.

23. Turn the plane over from left to right keeping the wing tips pointed away from you.

24. Bring the other wing down to make a crease which matches the one beneath it. Line up all the edges before mashing this crease in place.

25. As before, fold the wing tip back up along the line of the existing quide crease. There are many layers near the front edge which do not have this crease. Press all the layers as tight as possible.

26. Open the plane and adjust all the angles to be the same on both sides. The dihedral should be flat to slightly downward. The wing tips should be set at an up angle. If the angles are set properly, no other trimming should be necessary.

THE THROW - Launch with a moderate to hard throw. This craft flys well in most conditions and can be thrown hard at a high angle for loang soaring flights. Increaseing the dihedral downward and the wing flaps upward will make it more stable and fly straighter.