The New World Champion Paper Airplane Book: Featuring the World Record-Breaking Design, with Tear-Out Planes to Fold and Fly

This is one of two "must have" paper airplane books that are out there for serious folders. I have collected almost every paper airplane book in or out of print that I could find in the last few years as I discovered that paperflight was a great way to combine two of my hobbies: paragliding and origami. So being the obsessive that I am for these sorts of things, I started rounding up every book on the subject and I discovered that there are really just two books that I couldn't do without: this book and LaFosse's "Planes for Brains." Inside this book you will find all of Mr. Collins' most useful and elegant models with a few exceptions that can be found in his first book, "The Gliding Flight." The "Suzanne" model which was used to set the distance world record referenced in the title of the book is really the most elegant and impressive plane model around. It is simple enough that anyone over 6 or 7 could fold it, but it just goes and goes. Forgoing the tape and using nose or fuselage locks makes for a go-to plane in any situation. Two others not to miss in this book which were included in earlier books of his are the "Starfighter" and the "Boomerang." Both are great, especially the latter. With some practice at both folding and flying, the Boomerang is too much fun. And how Collins ever figured out how to fold this plane is a mystery as its folds are rather non-intuitive, however it is definitely worth learning. There seems to be some dissatisfaction regarding this book in that the models are too complex. They are complex, but they are not the most complex around. They are, however, the most accomplished around. The models in the LaFosse book mentioned above are really beautiful and have their own genius to the folding (they are even more complex), but they do not perform as well as Collins' planes do. If you are looking for a rudimentary paper airplane book, I would recommend the Klutz book as it is simple, but has some useful ideas for kids to explore with. Hope that helps.

This book is great for kids who like making and flying paper airplanes! The steps are easy to follow, and the colorful pictures make it simple to understand. There are lots of cool planes to make—some are easy, and some can do fun tricks in the air. It’s a fun way to learn, too! My 8 year old even tried using different kinds of paper to see which ones fly best. It’s perfect for rainy days, after school, or even in the classroom. I highly recommend it for creative and curious kids!

My husband uses this with grandboys often and we end up with various planes all over the house. Big fun and not an electronic device in sight except when they have to define some of the folds that are not pictures in the “basic folds” section. Consider the age of your users. Our budding engineer 7 year old can only do about 1/3 of the designs to to all the folds on top of folds. And the younger two can do only a few of them but do love to launch Daddy Pa’s completed planes. Also, have a wooden ruler or something to help make the folds flatter and clearly defined. There is fun paper included but save it for when a plane design has been perfected on plain, less special paper!

This book has good clear instructions on how to fold some very unique paper aircraft. You can clearly see the origami art mixed into the science of these fantastic flying sculptures. The Boomerang plane is Amazing. It circles so you can catch it. Too Fun! Following the photo illustrations made folding this intricate plane relatively easy for me. I'm always frustrated with written or poorly illustrated instructions. The story of the Guinness world record breaking plane makes this book all the more desirable. John Collins obviously knows a lot about paper airplanes to get his glider design to break a 9 year old record. The dichotomy in his and the former world record holder's design is fascinating. The record breaking event is a Great read! I loved the book so much I bought 5 of them. One for me and four for my friends children's Birthdays. Recently, I saw John Collins, "The Paper Airplane Guy", on the Conan O'Brien show. He was very funny and genuine. But, it was his paper airplanes that stole the show! Making and flying the planes in this book will make you smile, laugh and feel like a kid again.

So when I got this book I was amazed by how informative it was aspect ratio and alot more defines all the vocabulary clearly. Amazon says it is for people 11 to 13 but I think that this book is 8+age. If you are debating on buying this book or not I think that YOU should buy this book.It is an amazing book.

After watching a video online of this author, I had to get one of his books. My son age 8 was very excited to have his first paper airplane books. For him some photos very difficult to understand. However, since I have some experience in origami I could understand it to assist him. So I think some of the photos and instructions could have been better for young kids to understand. This book is primary for kids. And, when kids can't understand they get discourage to do more challenging paper airplanes. My son enjoyed folding several of the paper airplane models. Secondly, the binding on this particular book is very poor i believe its called library spiral binding. Which in less than a month have lose pages. Meaning, some pages have rip from the book. If standard book binding was used I think it would have been more durable. for that reason, unfortunately, I could have not given this book a higher rating.

We got a lot of use out of this! Kids can often lose interest in things after a day or two—if not a couple hours—but my son was making airplanes for weeks and weeks.. months… maybe years! Still picks it up now and then. Hours and hours of fun for the whole family…

This was a very good book my son really enjoyed exploring new designs.