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Paper Airplane Flight: Lift & Glide (2D)

2D paper-airplane glide lab built on a thin-airfoil lift/drag model with stall: launch angle, launch speed, headwind and nose-weight trim all change the actual aerodynamic forces every step, not a scripted path.

Physics & Mechanics2DModerate60 FPS📱 Mobile-adapted⇄ 3D version

This 2D companion replaces the 3D version's fixed flythrough path with an actual thin-airfoil lift/drag model: lift and drag are recomputed from the current angle of attack every step, so launch angle, launch speed, nose-weight trim and headwind genuinely change how far and how long the plane glides, including whether it stalls.

⚙ Under the hood

2D paper-airplane glide lab: a thin-airfoil lift/drag model with stall, launch angle, launch speed, headwind and nose-weight trim controls, and a live flight-path readout.

paper airplanelift and dragangle of attackstallglide ratioaerodynamics

2D · HTML5 Canvas 2D · 60 FPS target · runs fully client-side, no install

Why does the paper airplane stall in this simulation?

Lift grows roughly linearly with angle of attack up to about 16°; past that the flow separates and lift collapses in the model, which is what a real stall looks like.

What does the nose-weight trim control change?

It shifts the plane's natural pitch angle, which changes the angle of attack it settles into during glide — too much nose-heavy trim dives it, too little lets it climb into a stall.