On the use of paper to construct small flying devices

I confess that I have been building weaponry yet again, and this time some of the most devastating and immoral devices ever created. Yes, I have been building paper aeroplanes.

The basic launching device is quite simple, just a paper aeroplane that you hold in your hand and which throws a sub-aeroplane of identical appearance but quite different behaviour. The sub-aeroplane (which I shall term the plane, as opposed to the launcher, for convenience's sake) is the issue here. It's quite simple to give the plane a high buoyancy and just let it fly across the landscape or classroom:

// Simple paper aeroplane script
// Ordinal Malaprop
// 2006-02-21

default
{
 on_rez(integer param)
 {
  llSetBuoyancy(0.9);
 }

 collision_start(integer n)
 {
  llTriggerSound("pop", 1.0);
  if (llDetectedType(0) & AGENT) {
   llWhisper(0, llDetectedName(0) + " has been hit by a
   paper aeroplane from " + llKey2Name(llGetOwner()) +
   "!");
  }
  llDie();
 }

 land_collision_start(vector pos)
 {
  llDie();
 }
}

(Note the telltale element there in the script, designed to prevent pupils from pretending that it was not they who committed the offence.) This looks perfectly fine and would allow one to rain paper aeroplanes on Philip Linden quite effectively - as long as one throws them horizontally. At a steeper angle, however, they look a little ridiculous. Firstly they travel quite happily at the same speed a great distance into the air, which real aeroplanes do not do. Secondly, as they fall, they retain the precise same angle that they had at launch, which again, real aeroplanes do not do.

It would seem that the best idea would be to have a simple simulation of aerofoil lift combined with the "point in the direction of travel" mechanism described in my previous post concerning rocketry, and on investigating this I really do mean simple. Lift appears to be proportional to the square of the speed, and I plan to simplify the lift co-efficient drastically, so that it simply goes to zero after the plane goes outside a certain angle. I shall remove the buoyancy too, as I am not actually using Cavorite-impregnated paper.

A useful enhancement to the launcher here would be to allow the wielder to hold down their mouse button to increase the speed at which the plane will be launched, releasing it to throw, as this will affect its behaviour.

Please do not ask how I plan to deal with planes that have rolled around their forward axis, because I will make a face as if sucking on a sherbet lemon.