Some of the paper airplanes I’ve tried folding always fly upside down. Why? They fly perfectly both ways
In: Engineering
Some weird answers here already…
It’s a center of gravity thing and also a wing anhedral or dihedral thing. If the CG is above the center of lift, then it wants to be upside down.
Try folding it such that the wings are at an upward angle, so it looks like a Y if seen head on. Maybe not quite as much of an angle as that, but close. If it’s otherwise a good paper airplane design and has a deep enough “keel” to its fuselage, it should be stable right way up.
If you instead fold it so the wings are at a downwards angle, chances are it wants to fly upside down or doesn’t care which way it is oriented.
Of course all bets are off if it isn’t quite straight, if the wingtips aren’t trimmed to ensure it doesn’t have any rolling moment.
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