This model airplane is designed to resemble the Swift bird, which conveys information about NASA’s Swift gamma-ray burst Explorer mission. Educational levels: Informal education, General public

Lynn Cominsky

English

Digital Library for Earth System Education

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Roughly cut out each part. Go back and 
trim each part carefully. You may want to 
write the part number on the back after 
cutting them out.
Fold all tabs outward
Glue 1 through 5 together in the 
order indicated below (Fig.1):
1 and 2
1+2 and 3
1+2+3 and 4
1+2+3+4 and 5 = Fuselage
Align and glue the main wing backing 
(6) under the main wing (7)(Fig.2). 
Check all edges while gluing. They 
should snugly fit together.
Glue 6+7 to the fuselage (Fig.3). Align 
the front rounded edge of the wing 
assembly to the edge of the fuselage 
tabs, near the front (Swift’s head). Use 
the line on the wing backing to align 
the fuselage with the wing assembly.
Assembling the Swift 
Plane
Tools:
• Scissors: to cut out the parts
• Blade/knife: to cut out weight hole
• Ruler: to fold the tabs and make creases
• Glue: to glue the parts
• 1 Dime: to add weight to the plane
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3
5
6
Main Wing Backing
Main Wing
Swift Plane Assembled
Fold all tabs outward (you may use 
the ruler to help).
4
Turn page over for finishing touches, and flying instructions.
Fig.1
Fig.2
Fig.3
Front rounded
edge
2 Cut out the weight hole on each part.Fuselage
Weight Hole
Getting Ready to Fly
How to Fly Your Swift Plane
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Flight Troubleshooting - Quick guide
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The Swift Plane is based on a paper plane model from the “WhiteWings Assembly Kit” by Yasuaki Ninomiya 
and is used by permission – Check out this site for more tips on how to make your plane perform even better 
http://www.whitewings.com
B. Then, bend the tip of the wings upward 
to approximately 45 degrees at the line 
where the wing backing ends.
A. The back edges of the main 
wing should be turned up 
slightly, so they are equal on 
both sides.
C. Place a dime through the weight hole.
Educational Product developed by Aurore Simonnet 
NASA Education and Public Outreach Group
Sonoma State University
http://epo.sonoma.edu
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back edges
Front View
Wing angle  
- Side View
Throw the plane very 
gently forward ...
... aiming horizontally or  
       slightly downward.
Hold the plane 
so it balances on 
your fingers
Swift is a NASA Explorer mission that 
was launched November 20, 2004 to 
study gamma-ray bursts.
Gamma-ray bursts are huge explosions 
located in distant galaxies, but their 
cause remains one of the greatest mys-
teries in astronomy. Swift is designed 
to detect the bursts and autonomously 
point sensitive telescopes at their posi-
tions to observe the fading optical, ul-
traviolet, and X-ray afterglows.
Named after a bird that catches its prey 
“on the fly,” the Swift satellite can very 
rapidly – usually in under a minute 
– swing around and aim its telescopes 
at a gamma-ray burst.
Swift’s scientific goals are to determine 
the origin of the bursts and to use them 
to probe the distant universe.
Swift is a NASA mission that was built 
and is operated by an international col-
laboration. Countries with major contri-
butions are the US, Italy and the UK.
http://swift.sonoma.edu
About Swift:
Front View




Swift Glider

http://swift.sonoma.edu/resources/multimedia/pubs/glider/splane.pdf

Swift Glider

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Digital Library for Earth System Education