Flight Lab
Every class has thrown paper airplanes, and almost nobody can say why one plane glides across the gym and the next noses into the floor. The throw is never the same twice, the folds are never quite even, and the plane is gone before anyone sees what it did. Flight Lab folds the plane from a real sheet, throws it the same way every time, plays the flight back slowly from any side, and says what kind of flight it was and why.
Using this with a class? Make a free class and add your students yourself: each gets a username and password, with no email or Google account needed. Or give them one join code. Using Google Classroom? Post the link there; with a free class, the link also puts each student in your class, so you see their work. mytekDev is also available from the Google Workspace Marketplace, so your school's Google admin can install it for everyone.A first lesson: One period: throw the same classic dart at every strength from 1 to 9 and record what each throw did, then flatten the back edges, watch it dive, and find the bend that glides farthest.
Set up a free class Share to Google ClassroomWhat a student actually does
A student picks a plane from the shelf, a classic dart, a basic plane, a snub-nose dart, a locked-nose plane or NASA's glider, or starts from a blank sheet of US letter or A4. On the Fold bench the folds play out step by step, and Show the layers lights up where the paper is thickest, which is where the weight is. A student can drag any fold line to a new place, draw a fold of their own, or fold a whole plane from a blank sheet. On Shape they open it out: the wing angle, how far the body opens, both back edges bent up or down, the wing tips, and a paper clip at the nose, near the front or in the middle.
On Fly they choose the place, a school gym, a hallway with a ceiling and lockers, or a field with a breeze, then how hard to throw, the angle, and whether they are kneeling, standing or up on a step. Throw it plays the flight in 3D from behind, from the side, from where they stand or from above, or as a diagram. The result line names the flight and gives the distance and the time: a steady glide of 24 feet in 1.7 seconds. Below it the bench says why: the plane left the hand faster than it likes to fly, so it climbed and nosed over, or its back edges were flat and nothing held its nose up. Slow motion and Watch it again replay any throw, and Throw it ten times shows how far ten nearly identical throws scatter.
Ten things to try give the work a shape: a steady glide, a climb and dive, a loop, a turn on purpose, 12 meters in the gym, three seconds in the air, three throws in the ring, the length of the hallway, a plane of their own and a plane from half a sheet. Older students write a trim rule, what to change after a throw by what the throw did, and the lab throws and changes the plane until the rule says stop. The plane can be painted and marked, then printed as a step by step plan to fold from real paper, or saved as a crease pattern, a 3D model or a file for a 3D printer.
The same plane thrown ten times, each throw a little harder or softer and tipped a little, the way no hand throws the same twice. All ten glide, and they land between 22 and 25 feet: one throw is not the plane.
What they are learning while they work
Nothing here is presented as a lesson. This is what the activity is made of.
| What the student does | What it is |
|---|---|
| Throws the same plane at every strength from 1 to 9 | Lift and speed. Wings lift more the faster the air goes over them, and twice as fast is four times the lift. A plane thrown much faster than it likes to fly has far more lift than weight, so it climbs, slows and noses over, or goes right over the top. |
| Flattens the back edges and watches the plane dive | Balance point and trim. The wings' lift acts a little behind the balance point and tips the nose down. A back edge bent up is pushed down by the air and tips the nose back up. When the two match, the plane glides. |
| Slides a paper clip near the front of a plane bent up too far | Moving the center of mass. A clip is weight. Near the front it brings the balance point forward, so the same bend that slowed the plane now carries it farther: 21 feet instead of 18. |
| Bends one back edge up a few degrees more than the other | Banking and turning. The side bent up more lifts less and drops, the plane banks, and part of the lift pulls it round in a curve toward that side. Too much difference and it rolls right over. |
| Throws the same plane ten times | Variation in data. No hand throws the same twice. Ten throws a little different from each other land between 22 and 25 feet, so one long throw says little about the plane. |
| Writes a trim rule and watches it change the plane | Test, change one thing, test again. The engineering design loop as a short program: a flight, a change, another throw. A rule that changes too much each time swings back and forth and never settles. |
| Prints the plan and folds the plane from real paper | Model and real thing. The app's flight is a prediction. A real sheet, a real throw and a real room fly differently, and the plan's last box says what the app expects so the two can be compared. |
How to tell whether it landed
Ask, and let them show you. A student who has understood it can answer these without help.
- Your hardest throws went farthest. Why would you still not trust them to land where you aimed?
- With the back edges flat the plane dove. What did bending them up change?
- Why did too much bend make the plane fly slower and land shorter?
- The paper clip made the plane heavier, yet it flew farther. How?
- Which way does the plane turn when the right back edge is bent up more, and why that way?
- Ten throws of the same plane landed between 22 and 25 feet. What would you need before saying one plane flies farther than another?
Use it in your subject
Not a technology class? Then the app is how students show what they learned in your unit. More projects for every subject.
Elementary engineering and science
3-5-ETS1-1 to 3: a criterion (fly farthest, or reach the end of the hallway), constraints (one sheet, one clip), fair tests that change one thing, and failure points to learn from. 3-PS2-2 for using a pattern in observed motion to predict the next: the ten-throw scatter is exactly that.
Middle school engineering and physical science
MS-ETS1-1 to 4, and MS-ETS1-4 most of all: a model that generates data to test and improve a design. MS-PS2-2 for how a change in force or mass changes the motion: a harder throw, a back edge bent up, a clip moved forward.
Computer science
The trim rule and the fold program are short programs read top to bottom, written as text or as Glassbox blocks. The trim rule is a feedback loop: measure, decide, change, run again, and stop.
Math
Distances in feet or meters, speeds in mph or km/h, angles in degrees, and the spread of ten throws: the shortest, the longest and where half landed.
Practical notes
- AgesGrades 5 to 8 are the home ground. Younger students can throw, flatten the back edges and try the cards with help; older students write the trim rule and fold their own plane.
- TimeOne period for the throw at every strength and the back edges. A second for the clip and steering, a third for the hallway contest and the trim rule, and a fourth to print a plan and fold it from real paper.
- EquipmentA computer or Chromebook with a modern browser. Nothing to install. A projector works well for the slow motion replays. For the real thing: copy paper, a few paper clips and a long room; the app prints a plan to fold.
- CostFree. The app has no paid tier.
- PrepAbout ten minutes: throw the dart at strengths 1, 3, 5 and 7, flatten the back edges and throw, and bend one back edge more than the other, so you know what students will see.
- In a groupThere is no setup to do: every student starts from the same classic dart, and every throw with the same settings gives the same flight, so a class can compare numbers directly.
For co-ops, microschools, and classrooms
Hand out the classic dart as it comes, or save a plane of your own and share it as the starter. Every throw with the same settings flies the same way, so two students who change the same thing get the same number, and a class can put its best planes and its best trim rules side by side.
Common questions
Is it free?
Yes. Flight Lab has no paid tier, and it can be tried right on this page without an account.
Does it replace throwing real paper planes?
No. Throwing real ones is worth doing, and the app prints a step by step plan to fold, with what the app expects the plane to do. The app adds what a gym cannot: the same throw twice, a flight played back slowly from the side, and a reason for what the plane did.
How real are the numbers?
A sheet of US letter copy paper is about 75 grams a square meter, so the folded dart weighs 4.5 g; A4 is about 80. How hard runs from about 7 to 45 mph, from a toss to as hard as an arm can throw, because a paper plane is so light that the arm, not the plane, sets how fast it leaves the hand. The dart settles to about 11 mph, inside the 7 to 13 mph measured for folded paper planes. How much a wing lifts and where it stalls come from published measurements of flat wings at low speeds, and the paper's own drag from the textbook rule for a smooth plate.
What does it simplify?
The paper stays stiff and the folds stay crisp. Each wing is treated as a flat plate, and where along the wing the lift acts is a blend of two textbook answers, chosen by us, so the app tells students which side of it the balance point sits and never how far. The drag of the folded edges is our own number, and the app's planes glide a little steeper than real ones: about 3 feet forward for each foot down, where measured paper planes manage about 5. The short, pointed wings keep lifting to steep angles, so in the gym a plane thrown too hard climbs and noses over rather than stalling. The wing angle stops at a few degrees for each design, because past that the app's turns go the other way and no measurement of paper planes says so. Indoors the air is still, and outdoors the breeze is steady.
Can students fold their own design?
Yes. Start from a blank sheet and fold on the Fold bench: drag a line across the paper, or fold at a measure such as a half or a quarter. Older students can write the folds as a fold program, sentences like fold the top edges to the middle, in text or as blocks. Their plane flies by the same rules as the shelf's.
Where do the designs come from?
The classic dart and the basic plane are traditional, and NASA's Wingin' It activity folds both. The snub-nose dart is widely folded, often as the bulldog dart, with no designer known. The locked-nose plane is known to folders as the Nakamura lock. The glider is NASA's, from Wingin' It, and the credit is NASA's.
Does it work on Chromebooks?
Yes, in the browser, with nothing to install. The flight plays in 3D, and the diagram view draws the same flight with far less work for a slow machine.
Still have a question? Ask us, and a person will write back.
Where to go next
Lesson plans
4 ready-to-teach class periods with a teacher plan, a student worksheet, an exit ticket with answers, and the standards it meets.
Start with Flight Lab
Trying it costs nothing and takes about five minutes. An account is what makes the work last.
Flight Lab is one of the making apps on the platform. The gym is 30 m long under an 8 m ceiling, the hallway 15 m long, 2.4 m wide and 2.7 m high. Every throw with the same settings flies the same flight, and the app's test suite checks the flights the lessons use.
Page last reviewed November 2026.
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