If you have never seen the term air surfing, it was invented in the 1970s by Dr. Tyler MacCready, a fellow who studied philosophy at Yale and then geology at the University of Wyoming and Monash before becoming famous in amateur aerodynamics for the 'walkalong glider' - which looks like magic to many a young person's eyes, at least the way Harrison and his team of students do it. First, here is a diagram of a walkalong glider. MacCready no longer makes these so you'd have to find it on Ebay or make your own:
As you can infer, the cardboard acts as a controllable slope and its movements cause the air to come over the top and make a wave. But watch how Harrison and his team do it using their hands:
If you pause that video a few seconds in, you see another reason why I am writing about a school project in a small town in central Pennsylvania. The "Campbell" on the back of that giant 9th grader's shirt tells the world he is my nephew, but I primarily wrote about it because they make it look so cool.
Adam Campbell made the trip to St. Louis with fellow air-surfing enthusiasts LeighAnn Eisenhauer, Tyler Welch and Sapphire Naugle and Harrison leading the way. "With a lot of practice they can levitate the planes using only their hands. It looks like magic, but it's closely related to the way glider pilots and birds can soar effortlessly where wind blows up and over mountains," Harrison told Amanda Alexander of the Williamsport Sun-Gazette.
So if you ever desired to fly an airplane but don't want to spend money or use electricity or anything that might contribute to global warming, air surfing is for you. Dig some corrugated cardboard out of the recycling bin and get an 8.5 X 11 sheet of paper and that's all you need. Then, when you are experienced, you can reuse the cardboard for something else and just use your hands.
Full instructions on making your own origami magic airplane at Harrison's site, www.sciencetoymaker.org. If you are so excited you need to make one right now, you can also watch this video.
Comments