How To: Fold and fly a tumblewing walkalong glider

The science-fiction author, Arthur C. Clarke, once said, "That any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic". Who would have thought that we could create a wave of air with a piece of cardboard, and fly a folded sheet of telephone book paper on the wave of air? With this three-part video tutorial, you can find out how you can fly a piece of paper, making it surf on a wave of air. See how to make an origami tumblewing glider.

Encountering walkalong gliding is almost like stepping into a sci-fi movie, or a movie about magic, with objects hovering through the air without any apparent source of lift. Actually doing it yourself has the excitement of a video game and aerobic activity besides. Surfing on a wave of air has a Zen-like simplicity. A piece of cardboard from a pizza box and a page from a phonebook (are you really going to miss a page from the "attorneys" section?) are all you need to get into the air.

See some various sized patterns for the walkalong glider in this PDF. Most people start with the medium version.

And get more information about the tumbling / walkalong glider at Science Toy Maker.