Tornado - Paper Airplanes

Tornado. The Tornado. The Hurricane paper airplane is based on a design by H. Riley Watkins. It has square, symetric wings that are typical of flying wings. It is fairly moderate to fold and requires a letter size sheet.

This versatile wing is a very robust flyer and is best with medium to light weight paper. Good in all wind conditions, it can be trimmed and flown in different configurations. Start with a letter size sheet.

The The Tornado belongs to the category Tumbling and are designed for great lift to give a long, straight and stable flights. The secret is the wide wing spans and the small bodies. Fairly easy to fold but great fun to fly, this square symmetric wing is typical of the Flying Wing style of paper airplanes.

The most versatile of the flying wings, this plane flies well in all wind conditions and can be trimmed for distance or loops. Make the starting crease by folding down the top edge but miss the bottom edge by about two or three finger widths. If this gap is either too big or too small, the resulting plane will not fly as well.

THE THROW - Open the plane and adjust all the angles so they are the same on both sides. Opent the small triangular flaps and adjust their angles. The plane is shown here upside down so you can see these flaps. The dihedral should be flat or slightly up. Experiment with the angles for different kinds of flights. Launch with a moderate to hard throw. The wing sections and triangle flaps can be adjusted for different kinds of flights. By setting the dihedral downward and the triangle flaps vertical, long straight flights are possible. As shown, the flights tend to be more acrobatic.

Please see the detailed folding instructions and click on the step by step video immediately below.

Based on a design by H. Riley Watkins
Difficulty: Moderate
Paper Size: Letter
Paper FoldingTornado How to fold, How to fly